


Anchor against the Siren's Song

by Rykeral



Series: The Anchor-Verse [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: 100k, Atlantis, Complete, F/F, Finding family-fic, Lena Luthor-centric, Lena is Atlantean Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-07-29 22:30:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 100,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20089828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rykeral/pseuds/Rykeral
Summary: Lena Luthor has always hated the ocean, and anything to do with it, for as long as she can remember. She even avoided lakes and rivers, bath's and spas, and she'd only been in a pool long enough to prove to her new parents that she could swim, before never touching it again. She kept away from large bodies of water like the plague.... until she drowned alone in the Pacific Ocean and realised that she was home. A story about love, finding family, finding your place in the world, and even finding yourself. Lena, Princess of Atlantis AU.Leana/ WonderCorp ship. Pre SuperCorp? WonderSuperCorp?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also, Yes, another fic. Opps? (#^_^#) I guess I liked the movie and wanted to put my own spin on it? So this is just a bunch of ideas I threw together into a semi-coherent fic. I kinda love the idea of Atlantean Lena and I very quickly fell on the Diana/ Lena train, you can blame Lena in a red dress (on Tumblr or her AO3 handle is CSIGurlie07c) for that. Check her out if you want some good fics, she's down for any Lena ship and the girl has some serious talent. 
> 
> This fic isnt really about romance, though there is a bit of that, and it is straying away from my SC OTP, but.... Kara and Lena need time to heal first. Maybe in the future I'll add to this and make it a series (I may have a few ideas) and make it WonderLuvers or whatever the OT3 ship is called, but not yet. They both love each other dearly, otherwise it wouldnt hurt so much, but any romantic feelings are hidden beneath the hurt. This is just for fun and really, I make a lot of it up, but! Come and see me for my mini meta on Atlantean Royalty and why Atlanna was banished when all evidence points to her being the primary ruler of Atlantis. 
> 
> And! For the first time ever, I have finished a fic before posting it. 100k later ;) Expect weekly updates, if not more ;)
> 
> Have fun!

Lena Luthor stared blankly at the worn diary in front of her and absently reached for her glass. The amber liquid sloshed slightly as she lifted it to her lips, the burn merely adding to the half bottle she had already drunk. The mansion let out a groan as the wind outside pounded on the doors and walls, trying to sneak in beneath doors and windows.

It was quiet inside, though. Like it always was.

The Luthor mansion held a dozen rooms with individual ensuites, an Olympic sized swimming pool, a media room, several dining rooms, a huge ball room, a large industrial kitchen, a library that stretched from floor to ceiling, which was Lena’s second favourite place in the house. Her favourite was her fathers office, the room she was currently sitting in.

It was smaller than her mothers-than Lillian’s office, but it was crammed with things. The book shelves lining the sides had books Lena had memorised, and some of her youngest memories of her and her father were sitting on one of the twin sofa’s and Lionel teaching her to read his reports while he sipped his scotch. As she got older he would occasionally offer her a sip, especially when she impressed him, and her early teens, before he got sick, she could be found back from boarding school curled up on one of the couches as her father worked at his desk, reading Luthor Corp reports and offering her father her opinions.

The table that sat between the two was covered in a layer of dust, Lena noted idly as she lifted her glass to her lips. The room was spinning but Lena ignored it.

Her father’s chair still felt, and smelt the same. Black leather with her father’s imprint etched forever into the stuffing. It sat behind an impressive mahogany desk, where it curled to follow the room and housed an ancient, by Luthor standards, computer. It too had a coating of dust.

Wind and rain lashed at the large windows behind her, and she kept her back turned to the night, not interested in seeing her reflection in any way as she eyed the disturbing lack of alcohol in her glass.

Wind whistled in the chimney and rattled, demanding entry into the mansion, to spread its fingers down the empty halls with expensive paintings or vases lining its sides.

It wasn’t a happy home, belonging in more of a housing catalogue than as a place to raise children, but the cold, impressive walls had helped raise her.

Lena eyed the fire place contemplatively and absently rubbed her arms. She was cold, she knew that, logically, she just didn’t care.

Above the fireplace was a painting, grey and blue and sombre. It was dark, a lost ship amid torrid seas, with hands, grotesque and twisted, reaching out from the waves. _Siren’s Song_ by B.Kelly.

As a child she had been fascinated with the painting, and had been able to stare at it for ages, now though, now it just made her mad. It was a marvellous piece of artwork, but Lillian had hated it ever since Lionel had brought it home, and Lena was sure that, if her mother had ever had control over Lionel’s office, she would have gotten rid of it immediately. Though Lex hadn’t allowed it, telling Lillian to leave the room alone.

With a sudden movement she picked up the, now unfortunately empty, glass of her father’s favourite whiskey and threw it with all of her might at the painting.

The glass hit the fireplace, her aim surprisingly on point despite her inebriated state, and shattered with a twinkle of glass and Lena slumped back into her seat.

She still felt like a child when she sat in her father’s chair, the indents in it too large for her smaller frame, like always.

The nearly empty hundred-year-old whisky taunted her in the dim light from the lamp next to her and she let its amber glow tug at her eyelids.

There was an ache in her chest, something she’d been trying to avoid, least it crack open and spill all of her heart. She could feel it, the fissures racing along it, the cracks dark against the red, and she wondered what it would look like if she could remove it. Would it be shrivelled up and broken and so damaged? Would it glow bright, or would the pain of betrayal have darkened it forever? There was only so much one heart could take, regardless of what people said about the muscle, it wouldn’t be healed any time soon.

Swallowing the whine rising in her chest laid her head on her arm and reached blindly for the remainder of the bottle. It used to hold fond memories, the scent of it reminding her of her father and it usually brought her comfort.

It took her a few go’s, searching absently until her fingers connected and then she ran them up the bottle until she found the stem. It was cool, air temperature, and Lena dragged it towards her, staring blankly across her arm and towards the dark hall.

Tipping the bottle up she moved her lower lip under the bottle the best she was able, spilling it over her chin and down her shirt, but like everything else right now, she didn’t care. The whisky called to her, urging her into its embrace and she took another swig, tilting her chin at an uncomfortable angle so as not to waste any more of the expensive liquid, not that she cared it was expensive. No. She just wanted to get as drunk as humanly possible and maybe, just maybe, fade into the darkness and…well, not coming back was sounding like a more appealing idea by the minute.

A sudden loud dong made her jump and she groaned as the grandfather clock in her father’s study dutifully continued with its message, announcing the late, or early depending on how you looked at it, hour.

Against her will a tear streaked down her face and she wiped it away angrily, smearing her damp sleeve on her face and she glared at nothing.

It was funny, how she had hated this house, and everything it stood for. Boarding school was a blessing. It got her away, it got her away from everything the Luthor name demanded of her, and it got her away from Lillian, and then, her father as he got sick. She was now the one it belonged to, and everything in it, with her mother and brother in jail and her father dead. Everything was hers. Including the Luthor legacy.

Her fingers twitched and she valiantly fought down the urge to throw the bottle at the fire-place. She could do that when it was empty, it still had a few fingers worth left, she judged and took another sip, sitting back up and slouching against the chair-back.

She had been alone for years, ever since her mother abandoned her, adrift in the currents of life. The Luthor mansion, and name, hadn’t been the safe harbour she had needed, but Lex, her perfect big brother, he had been…. The calm in the storm. A sunny day. He had been her anchor.

Already set in his life, and going to boarding school, he had nevertheless taken her under his wing immediately. She had been his sister the moment Lionel brought her home, gave her her name, and called her his daughter. Lex had been… Lex had been her everything.

In those first few weeks when nightmares kept her awake he would come into her room and sit with her, reading science journals under the torch light, or pointing out the constellations and telling her their stories. Lex had saved her from drowning. In flashing lights and shouted questions from strangers that wanted to tear her apart. He saved her from impossible demands by her new mother, a standard her four-year old self couldn’t keep to. In a life she had no one to look to for guidance, Lex had been her lighthouse.

At parties he would sneak her treats, and when she cried herself to sleep he would somehow hear, and come to her and he would tell her stories. Sometimes, when the world became too much, he would take her out to his treehouse, built by professional builders but to Lex’s design, and show her all of his science experiments. She learnt to love science alone with her brother, his presence calming the tormented waters of her heart, and showing her all the world had to offer, if only they took it apart and put it back together.

When he went back to school, in Metropolis and not Ireland like Lena because Lilian could never dream to be parted from her beloved boy, Lena was devastated, and would retreat to her books and learning. Lionel had delighted in it, if he’d been a little distant, and the best memories she had of him were of him giving her budget reports and patent applications and asking her to find anomalies. She found a love of helping people then, of being of service, and she had glowed under the praise as she found things even Lionel’s experts hadn’t. He would ruffle her hair and tell her, ‘Nice one, Squirt,’ and she would glow until Lillian’s stern brow would dim it.

The time Lex and Lena spent together when they were both home from school was a time that she coveted, guarding it as closely as a dragon did its treasure. Her brother would come home in his uniform, tie neatly pressed and uniform immaculate but still looking like he was popular because he wasn’t so nerdy, and he would toss his school books at her, complain about how stupid regular people were, and drag her out to the garage to tinker.

Lena learnt how to dismantle and rebuild an engine from scratch, how to pull things apart and put them back together, and how to improve them.

They would build robots, and have little fights in the yard with them, and Lex taught her how to drive in a car she had built herself from scratch, engine and all.

Their days during break would be spent building and creating and just…. Being. Riding the Arabian horses, playing pool, Lex even taught her how to play poker and they’d replace chips with chocolate sweets, Lex’s of course, because Lillian had never allowed Lena near sweets. She had been a fat child and Lillian had wanted to cure her of that before people talked. If she had an eating disorder now, well, she hid it with alcoholism. It ran in the blood, after all.

Over chess, as Lena had gotten older and Lex had entered the business world, their father’s dutiful shadow, ready to learn the cords of the Luthor Empire, to rule it all, he and Lena would discuss the business of Knights and Bishops. Lex would be King, he said, twisting the piece in his hand, eyeing it after the first Check-mate Lena had given him. He would be the power and the image, charming and disarming, brilliant and cut-throat. But Lena, Lena would be his bishop. At his side and striking out when needed. She’d be the brains, and power, the driving force behind Luthor Corp. Together they would rule the world.

Lena had picked up her queen and tossed it at him. ‘Idiot,’ but she had been smiling as she had said it. She liked the idea. Her and Lex against the world. And she knew they could change it. Make it better. The things the two of them could do, with their brains, his charm, and her kindness, well, they had the world. They could shape it, improve it, make it better for all humans. It was all they had wanted, once.

Lena would be able to shine in Lex’s shadow, his protégée but never his competition, and she was okay with that. She could hold Lex up. He was her big brother. Her anchor.

And then a man in blue and red with a giant S on his chest had gone and fucked the entire thing up. And of course, because the universe loved to fuck Lena over, not five years later his cousin, a stupidly, distractingly pretty blonde with blue eyes, had done it again. Fucked Lena over worse than anything else, hurt her more than Lionel and Lillian, more than Lex, more than the hatred and vitriol of the world dumped on her. The universe fucking loved her. But maybe she deserved it. Maybe she truly did.

The fissures in her heart crumbled in warning, and Lena, because she so enjoyed wallowing in her own self-loathing, continued down that path of betrayal.

Kara Danvers.

The glass beneath her hand was frustratingly strong and to combat her ire she took another swig. Oh if her mother could see her now, she thought and snorted, taking another sip and lifting the bottle in salute to ghost. Her mother was in prison, like her brother, she knew that. But the memory of her still lingered in the house, still haunted Lena, and it always would.

Becoming friends with a Super. Trusting the Super.

She was such a fucking idiot.

Tilting the bottle back she chugged the lot, not caring for her ungracefulness or how some of it spilled over her lips and added to the sticky feeling on her face.

Because of course the only person who wanted to be her friend was a fucking alien. Because of course the universe couldn’t give her one thing, just one, not tainted and false. Because of course Supergirl, the cousin of the worlds most beloved man, wormed her way into Lena’s life to spy on her.

Idly Lena wondered what they were doing now, if Kara and her friends were laughing over how great and easy it had been to fool the youngest Luthor.

The red casing of her heart shuddered and she took several steadying breaths. The room was still spinning and there was an odd ringing in her ears.

Kara Danvers used her. There was no other way about it, and Lena, poor unsuspecting and desperate for affection had swallowed ever single lie without questioning- no. Not without questioning, she wasn’t that naive. But she had let it slide, figuring that Kara, sweet and kind Kara, had the right to her own secrets. Of course, then she was integrated into the gang, with game nights and thanksgivings. All better ways to lower her guard. Heck, they must have planned it right from the beginning and Lena had walked right into the trap.

Lex would be mocking at her from his cell, she knew and the thought of his smug face, once so kind by now full of malice, made her throw the bottle at the fireplace. It shattered and glass went all over the floor, but Lena didn’t care.

The sound was like a splinter, a wedge, and the cracks along her heart, the final barrier of training and life experience, fractured.

With an anguished howl Lena fell forward onto her fathers’ desk, arms trying to cradle her head, as though they could protect her, comfort her, love her, and began to cry.

It wasn’t pretty. She knew that.

Alcohol had lowered her inhibitions enough for her to finally crack and she bit back a muffled laugh as her body shook with sobs and the ache in her chest flared with every breath.

She had always been alone. Abandoned and unwanted. And here she was, twenty-one years later, alone again.

Kara Danvers was Supergirl. Supergirl was Kara Danvers. And fuck, it was so clear to her now, in a way where all of the pieces of the puzzle just fit into place.

Kara was, well, Kara was Kara. Kara was sweet and kind and honest and earnest and shy, but she also had a strength to her. She was rigorous in her belief’s, righteous and just, and fair, even if it went against what she believed in. She had been the first person in Lena’s corner, simply because she wanted to be, or so Lena had thought. Turns out Kara had been playing Lena the entire time, and with the precision of a concert pianist. Lena had been a puppet, dancing to her tune with perfect steps and a plastic smile.

It all made perfect sense, even to her alcohol clogged mind, it was still firing away dutifully, presenting Lena with truths she didn’t want to see. Kara Danvers came into Lena’s life the week she had moved to National City, and wormed her way between Lena’s walls, or rather flew over them, with her kind, earnest smile, and her helping hands, usually with a delicious treat and Lena had just….fallen. It was sort of pathetic, really.

Lena had let Kara in, right into her inner circle, right into her harbour of trust and Kara had torn it to shreds. Lena had willingly given Kara everything- or everything that mattered, an intimacy that wasn’t afforded to just anyone, and not after Lex’s betrayal. Kara had been an anchor, one that was more of a constraint than a safety net, but Lena hadn’t been aware of the difference until Kara Danvers stood before her, hair down and shirt blown apart to reveal a giant S on her chest.

It had been another attack on Lena, and Kara had thrown herself between them, even though Lena had argued with her over it. Kara had always been strong, both physically and mentally, and now Lena knew why. She had thought that it was just Kara, that Kara was just… a unique individual of uncommon strength and had decided Lena was worthy of her light. It had warmed her heart, to have Kara willing to protect her, fragile and soft and sweet Kara, and she had wanted to protect her too.

Only it hadn’t been something Lena Luthor could fight, it was something only Supergirl could solve, and she had been there. Standing between Lena and the latest goon of the week was her best friend, clothes burnt away to reveal the red and blue ‘S’ on her chest and something in Lena had shattered.

She had walked away. Unable to face Kara-Supergirl, whatever it was she called herself, and had gotten behind the wheel of her Camaro and driven, aimlessly, until the roads had led her back to where it all started. The Luthor Mansion in Metropolis.

She had commissioned its refurbishment after Reign had trashed it, and she knew that it wouldn’t take too long for Kara and her allies to find her if they wanted to, but she just… needed to escape. She hoped the fact that she had left the city without talking to anyone would make her thoughts quite clear, but she knew that they would at least monitor her. Just in case. The thought made her laugh, as though she had ever done anything worthy of being stalked in such a way.

Her cell had rung repeatedly as she drove with music blasting so loud she could only hear the thump of it in her chest, but she had ignored it. Everyone knew. Everyone actively helped keep the secret, actively lied to her when she had thought they were friends. Alex. James. Kara’s Martian boss, which actually now she thought about it made sense, they had all actively worked against her, used her trust to keep her at arms length, and that seriously sucked.

Lena had been the fly, in a web of lies with a dozen spiders spinning the tale, keeping her in the dark and using her. It was painfully clear just how stupid she had been, and how they had just… used her to further their own ends. Keep your enemies close, right? They had brought her in, making it seem like she was trusted and an ally, when in reality they had been fostering a false trust, keeping her happy, on their side all the while keeping her at a distance.

Lena had only sent out an email, alerting her board of her absence and appointing Jess as interim CEO before turning it off. They could track it while it was on, though she was sure the DEO would be using their better technology to find her anyway. They were probably tracking her car registration too, which wasn’t comforting.

She had left her phone at home, only taking her back up phone, but they still managed to ring it, and so she had removed the chip and left it on the front seat. Maybe she’d find another chip and use it again, but she wasn’t interested in talking to anyone, especially not Supergirl and her friends. She didn’t want to hear their apologies, and she certainly didn’t want to hear their threats. A Luthor knowing the secret identity of a Super. Lex would have been thrilled. She could destroy Kara’s entire life with less than five words.

Lena was (in)famous. Her social media was followed by millions. All she had to do was type out a few little words and she could bring Kara’s life down around her ears, just the way she had to Lena. It would be fitting, to let Kara taste that betrayal, feel that heart-break and know the reason for it. The DEO wouldn’t be able to stop Lena, not before she had published it, certainly, and even if they did hack her system to reverse it, she hadn’t signed any oath or contract so legally her lawyers would tear them apart. It would be fun, actually, to see the government deny the DEO’s existence and call them a rogue operation, when Lena’s lawyers spoke about betrayal and treason and Alien Guantanamo. It would almost be fun. To sit back and watch them burn, all of them. It would be no less than what they deserved.

Arriving home she had entered the house and had walked absently through the old rooms, haunted by ghosts only she knew, until she had found herself in her fathers study. Lionel always had such fine taste in whiskey, which was where Lena developed the taste for it, and she had been delighted to find a bottle of his old century year old favourite sitting patiently next to a glass as though the office was waiting for its master to return home.

Then she had started drinking, and well, here she was, her head in her hands as her body shook out its heartbreak. When the greying in her vision darkened into unconsciousness she welcomed it. Anything to stop feeling.

~*~

The first thing she was aware of was a pounding in her head, and cotton in her mouth. It felt as though someone were trying to drive a sledgehammer through her skull, helpfully kept in place by the thumping of her heart. Groaning she wet her lips, feeling the lack of moisture in her mouth and trying to swallow the urge to throw up.

Light was already cast through the windows and she blinked away from it, curling into her whiskey smelling clothing and groaning again.

Time passed in a blur as she kept her face on the cool, but steadily warming mahogany of her fathers desk and she tried to control her roaring stomach.

There were birds outside, she could hear them, and someone must have left a window open because she was pretty sure they were flying around her head in some sort of devilish halo.

She let out a pathetic groan and then cringed away from the scent of her own breath. Nasty.

Her eyes were gritty and sore as she blinked and it was far too easy to keep them closed, to feel the cool embrace of darkness while she tried to gather herself.

It took her a long moment, minutes, hours, she wasn’t sure, until she finally gained the strength to lift her protesting body from its position draped over the desk.

Groaning again, at how her body ached like it hadn’t in years, and she grimly acknowledge that she was getting old, she tried to straighten, bringing her hands to her eyes to shield them from the light.

Her stomach protested the action heavily, and she fought down her nausea with measured breaths, tasting the aftermath of the whisky and grimacing in distaste.

Some time later, when the sun was stupidly high in the sky and the day was far too bright and cheerful for Lena’s mood, she managed to carefully leave the office and entre the hallway. She was mindful of the glass shattered over the floor and eased into the darker halls with a sigh of relief.

They had been restored perfectly, likely from the 3D rendering of the estate that Lex had done many years ago, giving to contractors to design the defence systems in it. Lena was glad that she had it, even though it had many bad memories, it was still home. It was the first place she had ever felt at home, not since watching her mother fade into the lake and never return again.

Her head was pounding out a steady rhythm and she kept a hand on the wall as she stumbled towards the kitchen. She needed to rehydrate and then readdress her entire situation. Some changes needed to be made.

The kitchen was spotless, not a speck of dust, and she didn’t go to the trouble of getting a glass as she spied the water tap and lurched over to it. Her desire for water outweighed her cursing of the sunlight, and she closed her eyes as she leant over the sink and lifted the tap.

The water was cool on her tongue and she drunk greedily, not caring for the mess she was making, or of how she looked, bent over the sink and with water playing with strands of her hair.

Thirst satisfied she moved around the kitchen to the medicine drawer and took some painkillers, swallowing them past the returning ache in her throat before getting a glass and washing them down.

Satisfied she stumbled through another door and towards the living room. There was a couch with her name on it, and she curled up beneath the throw rug, not caring for the wet clumps of hair sticking to her skin or shirt and buried her face in the cushions. She wasn’t ready to face the day yet, and she needed to sleep her hangover off. It had been a while since she’d gotten drunk, and the memories of the last time made her heart ache. Stupid Kara. Stupid game night. Stupid Supergirl. Stupid world.

The next time she awoke it was dark, moonlight creeping in through the windows and when she sat up she noted with relief that she no longer felt like she needed to puke her guts out, though her mouth was still dry and her head still hurt.

Idly she noted it had been some time since she had gotten black-out drunk, and her mind flashed to the memory of Lex’s arrest and her subsequent trying to turn herself into vodka, before she shook her head. The movement made her dizzy and she grabbed the top of the couch with white knuckles until the nausea subsided. Funny how it had been a S on both occasions to drive herself to the bottle. There was probably a lesson there.

Grimly she wondered when Supergirl would burst into her little bubble of self-loathing and decided she didn’t really care. Lex was gone. Lillian, if she had ever had her mother, was gone. Lionel had long abandoned her, and her birth mother was a fading memory. The Luthor name was an afterthought and Lena, poor naive and trusting Lena who had been so desperate for any sort of affection she had ignored all of the signs of inevitable betrayal, had nothing. She was nothing.

The dark kitchen was a refuge and she opened the fridge, wondering if she would find anything. The house keepers kept the mansion stocked with fresh produce from the grounds and store, on the off chance that Lillian and Lena, now just Lena, might visit out of the blue, but nothing inside appealed to her.

The grounds staff maintained everything, bar Lionel’s office and Lex’s room, so she was not concerned about dust or cobwebs and she instead thought longingly of her bed.

Her room hadn’t changed in twenty years. Classic and imposing, wooden walls and floors, with lush carpets and paintings. There was still a large bed in the centre, and at age four the bed had seemed the size of an ocean, with dressers on each side and touch lamps there.

A desk was over by the windows, book shelves flanking it, and a balcony stretched out above the pool and looked out over the farm and former stables.

A television, old by current technology, but still large, sat against the wall, and behind it was her changing area and ensuite.

She had a walk in wardrobe that was the size of a small bedroom, and her own bathroom, and Lena ignored it all, pealing her clothes from her skin, ignoring the smell, and left them on the floor as her bed summoned her.

Pulling back the covers she relaxed into the mattress, the sheets were stiff and cold but she ignored it in favour of the comfort that surrounded her. It was nice to be held, even if it was by her sheets and mattress.

Scoffing internally at her own foolish thoughts, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like her mother, Lena pressed her face into her pillow and let sleep claim her once more.

The next time she woke it was gradual, to the groaning of her stomach and she sighed, swallowing the cotton from her mouth but thankful her headache was mostly in the past.

Her curtains were still drawn, and she could see faint light, hazy and almost pastel as the dawn drove the night away.

Lena watched the stars fade into pale orange and amber and blue and purple before finally dragging herself from her Egyptian cotton sheets. The floorboards were cold on her feet and she jammed them into slippers as she strode across to her wardrobe and slid into a fluffy robe.

She splashed some water on her face, rubbing the grit from her eyes, ignoring how tired and old she looked in her reflection, before heading down the hall and stairs towards the kitchen. It had been a long time since she had seen herself without her usual armour of make-up and tailored clothing, she couldn’t say she was pleased with how she looked, but it was what it was. She didn’t look cover perfect all of the time and was sad that the world expected such of her and other women. Life in the public eye could be cruel.

Setting the coffee machine, she opened the fridge and grabbed a pottle of yoghurt, something light and easy, while she waited for her coffee. It wouldn’t be the same as her usual coffee but she would make do.

When her coffee was done, she drank as much of it as she could, and then she grabbed the brush and shovel from the walk-in pantry and took a plastic bag to her father’s office. Her coffee was a little too hot for her to drink any more, so she’d come back to it later.

She had been raised properly, or at least properly by Luthor standards. She rose every morning with the sun, would prepare for her day and dress to impress. Work, or school, would follow, and then on the return it would be homework, and when she left school, it would be further work or reading, or other activities to further her education. She had afterschool activities; horsemanship, archery, swordsmanship, shooting, rowing, and the arts, languages (Lena could speak six fluently and had another three in which she was passable in, and two she was teaching herself) as well as three instruments (piano and violin, of course, as well as the drums- which was a secret only her tutor, Lex and Lillian knew).

She could dance, host parties and events, and was groomed from her youth to be a Luthor, to rule the elite. And she was impeccable at it; charming and graceful and untouchable. But also very, very lonely.

She idly wondered if she and Lex had been socialised better, and not with the rich upstart children of Lionel and Lillian’s work acquaintances, if they would be more stable, if they found strength in friendships, but then realised that Lillian, and to an extent Lionel, would never permit it. Ties with others were to further the family, the business, to grow the empire. Friends were pawns, to be used and tossed aside once they had been drained of resources. Family came first, before all else. Then the Empire, and then anything else the individual cared for, and it could be anything that Lena or Lex wanted, provided it didn’t conflict with the first two.

Lex hadn’t cared for the first two or had felt his vendetta against the most beloved man in the world was worth more. Lena, Lena who had devoted herself to the first, and coveted the second, was left to pick up the pieces. She tried, valiantly, but she was drowning beneath the weight of obligation, of hatred, of the Luthor name.

Lionel’s office was how she had left it, and were it not for the fact that the house-keepers wouldn’t touch it, Lena would have left the whisky and glass until the next time she came back to the mansion, or when she was dead and her lawyers were going through the estate.

In the day light the mess she had made was obvious and she bit back a reflective wince. Were her mother here she would be berated harshly for her lack of composure, more so than for the glass shattered across the floor, or the whisky puddled on the wood.

Lena eyed it a moment before returning to the kitchen and returning with a set of towels, swiping a sip of coffee on the way.

She tossed them on the floor and ran her foot over the mess, gently patting the floorboards but mindful of slivers of glass.

She tossed the towels in the doorway and set about wiping up the glass, she would wipe the floors down once all the glass and liquid was taken care of.

With the fading scent of orange disinfectant wipes she eyed the stained painting and let out a little sigh.

It was darkened in a splatter, and oddly the entire effect didn’t ruin the painting, she wouldn’t go so far as to say it made it better, but it certainly didn’t make it worse.

It took her tip-toes to reach the painting, and she was pretty sure she looked like a fool as she lifted higher to gently guide the painting off its hook and down.

Her arms strained a little with the angle and weight, but she ignored it as she gently bore the painting over to the coffee-table and sat it down.

Little bits of glass fell to the ground, and she shook her body to rid herself of them, making a mental note to find the vacuum cleaner, before turning the painting over.

She eyed it a moment before going to fetch a bowl of water and a cloth. If she were unsuccessful then she would have an art restoration expert look at it, but she was hopeful she could get rid of the whisky residue.

She rubbed at the paint with a firm but gentle hand and soon the paint was a little damp but the whisky had mostly been cleaned off. She’d have to examine it once it had dried out, but she thought she may have improved its condition.

Setting the cloth aside she titled the painting back and lifted it, when she paused.

The front of the canvas had an indentation… as though something was pressing against it.

Bemused she set the painting back down and purposely tilted it forward, eying the location curiously.

There was a line behind the painting. Eyes narrowing she turned the canvas around and used one of her fathers letter openers to flick the paper behind the canvas open.

Once she’d opened a large enough area she peered inside the gap and then spun the painting around. A yellow envelop popped out.

It landed on the floor and was a glaring disconformity to the room.

Lena rested the painting against the wall and swooped down to pick the envelop.

What the fuck? She wondered as she turned the envelop around, looking for a name or date or some form of identification.

It was sealed and she used the same letter opener to split the paper.

Her heart was thumping in her ears and she was strangely nervous. Who hid an envelope behind a painting? Was she about to stumble onto some strange mystery?

A folded letter was pressed against an old polaroid picture, and she glanced over the photo a moment.

There was a woman standing in front of a painting, the very painting the letter had come from, and she was clearly the artist, if the paint on her clothing and dotted on her face were to go by. There was a high-chair nearby, a dark haired child in a pink shirt sitting in it, head turned to the painting.

Lena then looked at the letter, registering her shaking fingers but not realising why. Perhaps she needed some more food, and she made a mental note to get some soon.

The letter was faded with age, and with loopy writing and Lena felt her heart stumble as she saw who it was addressed to. Lionel.

_My dearest Lionel._

_I still can’t shake your final words, and for weeks all I dreamed of was your back as you left. Your daughter is beautiful, growing and learning every day. As I write this, she celebrates her first birthday. I named her Athena, the gift from the sea, for where we met, where she was conceived. She is so bright and so beautiful and when I look at her I am overwhelmed with so much love that its almost paralysing._

Lena swallowed, her heart rate stampeding as her mind fired with impossible conclusions. Lionel had another child? The girl from the picture? They would be about the same age…

_She is already walking. I know! She must have inherited your intelligence, thankfully! And yesterday she said her first word, sea._

_I know you want nothing to do with her, and had your...man… pay me off (how the fuck am I meant to bank five-hundred thousand American dollars?), but I want you to have her if anything happens to me._

_I’ve employed McGrath and O’Connell for my estate, and while I didn’t tell them who, I explained my situation and they are taking care of me. _

_Our daughter is perfect, and I cannot possibly fathom why you wouldn’t want her, but I respect the decision, even if I don’t respect you. _

_I’m going to tell her when she turns eighteen, she deserves to know who her father is. I’ll leave finding you to her, if she wants to._

_On the off chance something happens to me, I’ve hidden this letter and a photo, in this painting. I’m giving it to you, for my daughter. I don’t know if you’ll ever tell her who I am, how I loved her, so instead I’ve taken steps to let her know._

_Athena is everything, and I pity you that you don’t get to know her._

_Goodbye Lionel_

**Bronte Kelly**

Lena lowered the letter with shaking hands and set it on the coffee table. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she reached for the photo again, for the girl in the high chair and the woman next to her.

It was faded and aged, and old, so the quality wasn’t exactly hi definition, but it was enough for Lena to see the beaming smile of the mother and the clearly happy baby.

Giving it her full attention she examined it closely.

The room looked a little cramped, on the edges of the photo at least, with the half finished painting center-stage. The woman…Bronte…. Was in worn and paint ridden clothing beneath a jean jumpsuit, it was so stereo-typical of a painter that Lena nearly snorted. The baby in the photo…Athena… was in a colourful high-chair with her own painters palette and a paintbrush. From what Lena could see the child didn’t have any paint on the brush, or at all, but that didn’t stop the determined scowl or how it was held in the air like she was a professional.

She was in a pink shirt with a dolphin on it with a rainbow background, and there was a little shell on a black cord around her neck.

Athena.

Lena couldn’t deny the connections firing in her brain and mechanically walked to one of the chairs and lowered herself into it, absently touching her neck. She…had a shell like that, or she did, until Lillian had decided that a young Luthor should not be wearing something so tacky.

She…had to find it. To…make sure that what she had just learnt was true and that she…was Athena… the girl in the picture.

Adrenaline fired in her veins and she bolted from the room and through the hallways. She wasn’t used to exercise, especially after not really eating for several days, and she was breathless by the time she reached her room.

She blitzed across the carpet and fell in front of her study desk. It was old, belonging to some Luthor ancestor, and had been in her room for twenty years. She had left the necklace, a shell on a black cord, in the drawer after Lillian had made certain she knew that she would never like to see it again. Occasionally she had stumbled across it again, amongst her pens and pieces of paper, her study equipment, but she hadn’t liked the reminder. Her mother left her, and left her with Lillian, and she hated her for it. But… sometimes when it got too hard, especially when she was younger, she would take it out and just roll it between her fingers. She always returned it until she found it again. The last time she had taken it out was when she had achieved her first PhD at fifteen.

Pens, paper, staplers, highlighters, all went flying as she scrambled around for the little necklace. Her heart was hammering in her chest, even as her mind was connecting the dots, faced with undisputable evidence.

The girl in the photo was dark haired, so was Lena, and they appeared to be born around the same time, and to Lionel, his daughter…but… Lena had to be sure.

Her fingers curled around it and she quickly brought it into her view.

It was exactly how she remembered, or thought she remembered.

It was a silver shell, one of those cone shaped ones, and had a little connection of gold through which a loop of black cord was tied.

Lena traced its slight indents and felt a familiar warmth in her chest, the comfort that could only come from clutching a childhood toy, or in this case a shell.

That cleared it up. There was a ninety-nine percent chance of her being Athena… Kelly?

Well, what was she going to do now?


	2. Chapter 2

McGrath and O’Connell was a premier law firm set in the heart of Dublin, Ireland and Lena Luthor opened the doors, seeing the faded writing in gold on the glass, and quietly entered the building.

After her revelation the day before she had promptly emailed Jess, using a complicated system of I.P addresses and satellites to hide her identity and location, and had asked Jess to have her jet readied. Typically she would use her own passport and have her flight crew log in the proper flight plans, but she wasn’t in the mood for paperwork, and was well on the way to Ireland when it was filed. She didn’t need to worry about return fares or hotel costs, she was one of the most wealthy women in the world, and Jess had already assured her that Irish customs was aware of her impending arrival and would check her in swiftly and quietly.

That had been an hour ago.

It was only a short flight, less than six hours because she had upgraded the Luthor jet engines and was also paying for the fuel herself, so maybe, just maybe, she had instructed the pilot to get her there as fast as possible.

She had taken a taxi to her hotel, the Merrion, and the presidential suite, before showering and changing into brand new clothes that Jess had already procured for her on the flight over. Refreshed and dressed in clothing Lena Luthor would never be seen in, black skinny jeans, a white singlet shirt thing, and then a long-sleeved grey plaid shirt. On her feet she had a pair of black doc Martin’s, though thankfully Jess had for-seen the need for fluffy socks to help her wear them in. She even had aviators to go with it. Jess had insisted, when she emailed her, that Lena wear them, and keep her hair down. If she wanted to maintain a low profile, and she did, then she needed to look like any other young twenty-something, possibly a University student. She also had a shoulder bag for her money and the letter and photo she hadn’t let leave her side since she had found them. She was also wearing her necklace, keeping it safe against her skin.

Staring at her reflection she didn’t even recognise herself. It was… oddly freeing. No one knew she was here, or if they did it was only a few airport people and maybe the taxi driver, if he recognised her, which was a little doubtful. The hotel staff would be sworn to secrecy, and she looked like she was just another student in the city. She didn’t even have a phone!

She had her ID in her pocket, as well as one of her many platinum American Express’. Her first point of call was a ATM, and soon she had enough cash to tide her over for a few days. Next she stopped in at a phone store and purchased one, pre-pay, and idled on the internet while it was charged for her. When it was charged she left the store used her new map-app to find what she was looking for.

It was only a few kilometres away and, well, Lena was delighting in the anonymity, so she decided to walk there. She wasn’t in a hurry, and the last time she had been in Dublin was when she was a teenager and had accompanied Lionel on a business trip. She wondered how it had changed.

It was a rare fine day, with not a cloud in the sky, and she enjoyed the sun on her skin as she walked casually down the street, just another person.

As mid-morning hit she decided on a coffee, and by-passed a Starbucks in favour of a busy looking café a few stores down.

The smell of roasting muffins and cookies and cakes hit her noise, mixed in with coffee and sweet flavourings.

Her mouth watered.

Entering the café, and lifting her glasses onto her forehead, she glanced around a moment before making her way past the tables and to the counter. There were cakes and slices and breakfast items on display, a mushroom quiche, a blue-berry muffin, and she selected a delicious looking caramel slice and went for a chai latte, thinking why not. She was in a new city, new clothes, a new identity of sorts, so why not try a new drink. Besides, she probably drunk too much coffee anyway.

As she leant against a wall out of the way while she waited for her order and she thumbed through notable cases by her lawyers. They appeared to be quite successful and she hadn’t been able to find any moral or ethical over-stepping, let alone legal ones, so she was content in approaching them as she was. From the corner of her eye she could see the barista chancing her glances and she quietly eyed the exits and the people between her and them. You could never be too careful.

When her order was called she quickly went up to the counter. The barista gave it to her with a smile and leant forward over the counter.

“You seem familiar,” he commented, and Lena tensed.

“I don’t think so,” she said, holding her hand out for her drink.

“Are you famous or something?” He asked, withholding her drink and she felt her glare rising.

“No,’ she said shortly and his grin faltered.

“Well, er, you could be. You’re that pretty,” he said, rallying and Lena shifted her weight. Right, so instead of being some sort of assassin he was just a fuck-boy.

“My drink,” Lena growled, lowering her voice warningly and he swallowed. “Now.”

He nearly threw it at her, and she sneered at him as she took it.

Boys, she thought to herself as she navigated past the tables and the line to the counter and out onto the street.

She walked a while, sipping her drink and nibbling on her muffin. It was fluffy and sweet and delicious. She had a brief thought, on her first bite, that she knew a certain blonde reporter who would love it before she had quickly forced the thought away. She wasn’t thinking about that, and especially not when she might be about to learn about her birth mother.

Finishing her drink, and tossing it into the recycle bin she walked the rest of the way towards the lawyer. The writing was in gold against maroon along the top of the building, and had a wooden face with lovely coloured glass windows.

A bell tinkered as she entered and she lifted her glasses again, taking in the soft looking furniture and the welcoming lighting.

A receptionist was speaking into her ear-piece as Lena approached and held up a finger signalling Lena to wait. Lena didn’t mind and instead leant against the wooden bench. There was an empty seat next to the receptionist, two doors to her right, and then a few more on her left. The waiting room had a trio of couches, water station, and a television which was playing…parliament television, she turned away with a sigh.

“Hi. Can I help you?” The receptionist asked, drawing Lena’s attention and she smiled.

“Good morning. I would like to speak to someone about the estate and will of…” she wet her lips. “Bronte Kelly.”

The receptionist met her eyes a moment. “Your name?”

“Lena,’ she said, inclining her head. “Lena Luthor.”

“Of course Miss Luthor, let me just see if I can find someone to speak with you. Please, take a seat.”

Lena thanked her and walked over to the couches, sinking into the corner and adjusting her satchel on her lap. She spent a good fifteen minutes checking up on National City news, and made a mental note to get in touch with Cat Grant. She didn’t want CatCo anymore.

“Miss Luthor.”

Lena glanced up and tucked her phone away, eyeing the two men who were approaching her. They were mirror images of each other, though one had a few more years on him than the other. They were in suits and had fancy watches.

“I am Dylan O’Connel,” the elder one said, flashing her a charming grin. “My son Andrew.”

Lena shook their hands and settled her satchel over her shoulder.

“Thankyou for seeing me on such short notice.”

“Not a problem,” said Dylan, lifting his hand towards one of the conference room doors. “Shall we discuss this privately?”

The conference room was small, maybe three metres wide and five long, with a long table and a desk in the corner.

Dylan and Andrew sat across from her, tucking their ties behind the table and Andrew shuffled a set of papers.

“Now. Miss Luthor, what brings you to us?”

Lena eyed the two for a long moment. She had walked into the law firm with a name and a desire to speak to a lawyer, and the owner and his son had come to speak to her. Though she doubted Ireland cared much for America’s news, Lex’s crusade against Superman had gone global, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that lawyers, who probably would have found the case against her brother interesting, would know who she was.

“I believe that I am the daughter of one of your clients, Bronte Kelly,” Lena said, with little fan-fare. She wanted this over and done with as soon as possible.

The two shared a glance and Andrew glanced down at the folder before him.

“What,” Dylan cleared his throat. “Makes you believe that?”

Lena met his gaze a moment before reaching for her satchel.

“I found a letter and a photo behind a painting done by a B.Kelly, addressing my father, Lionel. I also recognise the necklace in the photo and the girl looks like I did at that age.”

Lena quietly placed her evidence on the table and Dylan took them both, reading them over quickly.

“We’ll need a DNA sample,” he said finally, folding his hands before him, “but from the evidence it looks probable that you are Athena Kelly.”

Lena was quiet for a long moment, having someone agree with her was…wonderful but also terrifying.

“How do we proceed?” She enquired softly.

Soon she was letting a cotton bud looking thing into her mouth and swabbing her checks for her sample.

“I want this sample rushed,” she told them quietly, firmly, and caught the glance they exchanged.

“I will pay for it myself,” Lena added, sensing their hesitance. “I want to know the truth, either way, as soon as possible.”

They nodded in understanding, and Lena figured her candour could be forgiven. She was going to confirm if Bronte was her mother or not. She was nervous and also excited.

There had always been a hole in her, something that Lillian encouraged her to ignore, and that was filled with lessons and her new life but… some part of her longed to know who she had been before she had been Lena Luthor. What had her birth parents been like? What was the stories of her family?

Of course the Luthor’s were her family now, and she should not think on such things or ask these kind of questions. With time she had forgotten, or had, at the very least, not given it more than a passing thought. Until Lillian told her the truth. She was Lionel’s daughter and had always been a Luthor. When the events of the Medusa Virus was over Lena had cried for a long time, and the urge to know who her birth mother was only intensified. Unfortunately the Luthor’s were thorough and Lena wasn’t able to find any trace of her adoption records, so she had been doomed to never know. Until she had found an envelope behind a painting.

She exited the lawyers with their numbers in her phone, two of her three contacts (Jess being the other) and, suddenly exhausted, wandered until she came across a sweets store.

Craving something sweet, and refusing to acknowledge the potential of why, she entered the store and exited ten minutes later and thirty dollars poorer. She’d send the night watching trashy television, drinking, and eating. All things her mother would loathe and she was almost prepared to admit it was a big fuck you to her mother.

She wondered, as she took an Uber back to her hotel, if Lillian knew who her mother was, or if Lionel had simply brought Athena home, naming her Lena, and then leaving her raising to his wife, the wife who loathed anything to do with her new daughter. Had her father ever loved her at all, or had it been a lie? She had known Lillian had loved Lex more, if she had loved Lena at all, and that of his two children Lionel often gave her more of his attention, but only now she knew that it was because she was his blood. Was he trying to compensate for years of abandonment? She’d find out tomorrow.

~*~

Less than twenty-four hours after she had surrendered her DNA for comparison against the sample of Bronte Kelly, left with her lawyers since before her drowning, and Lena was back in McGrath and O’Connell, eager and nervous for the results.

Her appointment was eight am, and she had a coffee cup for something to do with her hands, as fidgeting wasn’t an option.

The two lawyers looked tired and had their own coffee cups and smiles were exchanged in greeting as they all sat in the same conference room as before.

“Miss Luthor,” Dylan began, lowering his cup and flopping open a file. “I’ll be blunt,” he said and slid a photo across the table to her. “The laboratory rushed our comparison request and it has come back positive.”

Lena felt as though someone had hit her in the chest as her lungs constricted.

The two men gave her a moment to process her news and she glanced over the two DNA samples in front of her. It was set out in a table, three columns and a good twenty rows of comparison. One was old, clearly Bronte’s….her mothers…. And the other one was hers… they matched.

Lena swallowed and slid the paperwork back to her mothers, and now…her… lawyers.

“I want to run the tests myself,” she told them, always good to check things over herself, and after a moments hesitation they nodded.

“Miss Luthor,” Dylan said and then paused and adjusted his tie. “Um, how would you prefer we address you? We can confirm within the 99.9 percentile that you are the biological daughter of Bronte Kelly-we’ll begin the process of claiming her estate- but what would you like your name to be?”

Lena, or Athena as she had been born, sat quietly for a long time. Her options were…. Almost limitless. She wasn’t just Lena Luthor anymore, adoption PR stunt by the Luthor’s, nor was she Lena Luthor, bastard daughter of Lionel, she was also Athena Kelly, beloved daughter of an artist. She could be Athena again. Just be a nobody. She had answers now, she could be Athena, whoever Athena was.

…but she wasn’t Athena Kelly. She was Lena. Lena Luthor, and she would never be Athena Kelly again, or not be whoever Athena Kelly was meant to be.

“Lena,” she said slowly, making the decision. She was Lena Luthor, and Athena Kelly was no more, so Lena Luthor she had to be. “Luthor. Though I appreciate your discretion,” she added and she didn’t need to add any warning into her tone because a) they were her lawyers and there were protection laws, and b) not many people willingly challenged the Luthor’s, and if they wanted to keep business it would be best to keep her happy.

“Of course,” the two murmured.

“How do we proceed?”

Her lawyers spent the rest of the day discussing options with her, and when she was satisfied with what was going on, she had Jess book her transport back to National City. She was Lena Luthor, and she was going home. She would deal with the revelations of the past few days when she was at her safe place, alone with her whiskey for company. Like always.

~*~

It was late afternoon when she touched down in National City and Lena was thoroughly exhausted. Her trip to Ireland had been…illuminating. She had confirmed her birth parents and was waiting on a P.I to tell her every little detail about her mother, and her mothers family, and had actually enjoyed her four days away from National City. She also enjoyed being away from frequent reminders of who called National City home; Kara Danvers, Supergirl.

The airport had been full of merchandise, and the business part of Lena wondered why the Super’s were allowing their house crest to be sold like a brand logo, and who had the rights to be making money off of it. It was a thought for another time, another universe where she cared, and she lowered her head into her hoodie and walked quietly through the security until she reached her town car.

She was recognised by some paparazzi and their unflattering commentary was quickly silenced by the bullet-proof windows and several inches of steel.

“Welcome back, Miss Luthor,” her driver, Toni, said. “Where to?”

“Home, please,” she said as she pressed the button to lift the divider between them both.

She had a bag of clothes and a few other items she had purchased while she was in Ireland, and that had been placed into the truck, but her satchel with the photo of her and her mother, as well as a copy of her birth certificate, and the letter was tucked over her legs. She wasn’t willing to let it go just yet. It was hers and she wanted it near her so she could keep it safe.

She still wore her necklace, having placed it over her head after learning the truth of who she was, that she had a mother as well as a father. Logically she knew she had parents, obviously, but knowing their names, knowing at least something about where she came from, about who she was, was…. It was a weight lifted, a hole filled she wasn’t aware of. She knew her mother and father, their names, and soon she would know as much as a P.I could find about her mother, about the other part of her. Hopefully it made her… feel whole, or at least find more of her place in the world.

The drive through the city was calming and she leant her head back on the seat as they wound their way towards her apartment building.

She had a few more days left of the week, and then she would gather her armour together and stride into L-Corp with her head held high. She was still waiting on Cat Grant’s number, and hopefully Jess was getting that for her, but she was almost ready to go back to work and dive into running herself into the ground for the only thing she had left; L-Corp, and the Luthor legacy. Lena was nothing, but L-Corp could be something, anything for her to leave. The Luthor legacy could be philanthropist work, charitable organisations, breakthrough’s in technological and medical advances. She could leave the world with that, even if Lena herself had nothing, was nothing. She could make a legacy, even if she didn’t know her place in the world.

Lately her thoughts had been taking sinister turns, and she found herself indulging in them occasionally. She had even entertained the thought of going to visit Lex, to share with him the betrayal Kara had shown her, before realising it would be tragic for her mental health. Still, the thought was there, at the bottom of the whiskey glass.

“We are nearly there, Miss Luthor,” Toni commented, voice clear in the speakers and Lena straightened with a sigh, opening her eyes and making sure her belongings were secure.

“Thank you, Toni,” she was saying moments later as they pulled up outside her building.

“Have a nice night, Miss Luthor,” Toni said and Lena smiled through the divider and slid from the car.

Her doorman smiled to her as he opened the door and she walked through security easily, she did own the building after-all.

The journey to the penthouse was slow, the elevator music was ridiculously cheery, and she just wanted to curl up on her couch with her scotch.

Exiting the elevator she made her way down the hall idly noting the janitorial crew as she headed towards her apartment.

She was distracted, distracted by her mother, her slight jet lag, and from the ache in her heart, the pain of Kara’s betrayal, and that was why she didn’t notice they were not familiar to her.

As a security protocol Lena was aware of everyone who entered her building, as well as the guests who were approved, and she also knew all the staff. These four, and as they got closer to her, she realised they were well muscled and tattooed, were not familiar to her. They were coming closer, a cart before them and Lena ran over the dimensions of it and realised one could fit a body in it.

Fuck, she thought to herself and registered the elevator doors closing behind her.

She paused and slowly turned and began to walk towards the elevator. The stairs were at the opposite end of the hall. Her best chance, seeing as they were between her and her apartment as well as the stairs, was the elevator.

She moved quickly down the hall, making up the distance in twice the time and jammed the button. Usually she had her purse on her, with her taser and keys and L-Corp Identification as well as her phone, which came with its own taser. But today she didn’t. Today she only had her fists and she lost, she lost...badly.

The first one to reach her was treated to an elbow in the face and a quick kick between the legs, and the other one had his nose re-formed by her fist, but Lena was 5ft 6inches and seventy kilo’s of Luthor raised fury and didn’t go down without a fight. She didn’t scream or shout for help, if the men were here then those bases were covered and she did not want to endanger anyone else, but she did squirm and bite and scratch and kick with everything she had.

The men were bleeding and wincing by the time she was tazered, and she had shouted then, being tasered hurt, and they bundled her quickly into the cart, bound and gagged, shutting the door and securing it. She was treated to a bag over her head, zip-ties around her ankles and wrists, and a disgusting rag in her mouth.

Mission complete they catalogued their injuries and quietly chuckled about how fierce she had been before entering the elevator. They left Lena’s satchel and when the elevator landed in the basement, they wheeled the cart out to a van and disappeared into the city.

Lena came around slowly, and her body was tense and aching and her mouth was full of cotton, and a soggy piece of material.

Groaning she slowly opened her eyes and tried to see where she was though quickly assessed she had a bag over her head. Her body was curled in on itself, cramped and stiff, and she pressed out against the walls, trying to determine the dimensions of where she was held by using her bound body and legs.

There was a familiar discomfort in her belly, and she grimaced against the faint nausea. She was on a boat. The rolling of the ocean was known to her and she felt her mind firing with possibilities. She had clearly been abducted, and top of her list was some sort of government black ops team, affiliated with Supergirl. She was not proud of the suspicion instantly falling upon Kara and Alex and the people they worked with, but well, she had avoided them for a reason and she had wondered when the consequence of her new knowledge came to light.

Her second thought was CADMUS, or CADMUS affiliates out to get revenge on her for her not choosing to follow her brother and mothers rhetoric. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Her third thought was that it was a business enemy. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Of all the options she wanted, she would probably prefer the first, because even if Kara was Supergirl and wanted to buy her silence, she doubted that Supergirl, patron of justice and goodness that she claimed to be, would allow her to be murdered. Her best bet there was to sign an NDA and be released back to her apartment, furious but alive. If it were any of the other two options, then she calculated her survival rate at about fifty/fifty. Though it was dwindling quickly.

She wasn’t sure which of the two she would prefer, an angry business rival out to kill her or profit from her disappearance, or a xenophobe out for revenge. At least the business rival would have a problem with her about her business practices, her actions, rather than her lack of them.

She couldn’t hear or feel much apart from the vibration of the engine, the roll of the wave, a rattle of some loose screw and she started a mental count while she tried to plan a way out of this.

It was some time later when there was movement above her, and the engine idled.

There was a torch shoved into her face and she shied away from the glare of it through the bag and didn’t see the hands reaching down for her, dragging her from the box.

Her body was stiff and the hands that guided her kept her upright as blood rushed to her legs. Some of her hair was partially ripped out when the bag was torn off her head and she grimaced at the sting of it, and at the burn behind her eyes as they adjusted.

She was dragged along, feet trying to catch her out onto a deck, and the scent of salt and fish was strong here, as was the rolling beneath her.

The metal was a little rusted and there were large containers and nets and she wondered if she was on a commercial fishing vessel.

Her guess was confirmed when she was carried out onto the main deck and thrown onto her knees.

Lena bit her tongue holding back a pained shout as her knees collided with unforgiving steel but and straightened to glare up at who ever it was that had kidnapped her, or arranged for it.

She didn’t recognise him, and the part of her brain cataloguing everything was concerned that she was being allowed to see their faces because it didn’t bode well for her health.

It was difficult to see their features completely, but there was at least five of them, plus someone driving, but she examined them the best she could.

“Luthor,” the man before her sneered and Lena tried to stand, only to be rudely shoved back down and she grunted in pain as the same area was abused.

“Ow,” she grunted pointedly though the gag and one of them bent down to cut the zipper ties around her legs.

“Ow,” she said as she had her wrist freed and was able to tear the gag from her mouth but remained on her knees as she had little to no power here.

“Shut up, bitch.” She saw a flash of light on a ring before it struck her in the face and she reeled a little before rough hands hauled her back up.

“Who the fuck are you?” She demanded and spat out some blood on the deck glaring up at who ever it was that had abducted her. Her abductors being Supergirl and the DEO was rapidly fading and so she was anxious about the reason and the potential outcome. Her mind was whirling away, rapidly thinking of outcomes and what percentage that she had of success, of living.

Her response was another backhand to the face and she growled, tasting blood on her teeth and spat it out, down and probably on her shirt, but she ignored that in favour of glaring up at him.

She wondered if she would get away with another comment, but two out of two for getting smacked in the face wasn’t great odds. Wisely she decided to remain silent and see what information her abductor could willingly give her.

Instead she glared at him, keeping her impassive mask in place.

“Got nothing else to say?” He taunted and she showed him her teeth in a snarl but wasn’t eager for another back hand so remained quiet.

There were chuckles made, murmured comments, but Lena ignored them her gaze on the man in front of her. The torchlight changed and she was able to get a good look at the leader. He was white, tattooed, with stains on his shirt and ripped jeans. The man next to him had darker skin, heavy tattoos, one with a skull on it, and had a glinting cross around his neck.

Lena couldn’t see the people holding her on her knees, but she knew they were there, two of them.

“You Luthor’s have nothing to say when you’re on your knees,” the man commented and he dug in his pocket for a cigarette while Lena tried to figure out who these people were. There was a derogatory comment about having her on her knees which Lena ignored, she had long heard the ilk and it didn’t matter to her.

“You’re going to die, slowly and painfully,” he cooed to her as he lit his cigarette, a false lit to his voice and Lena felt her heartrate accelerate powerfully.

“You’re gonna be alone,” he said taking a puff and he bent down to exhale it in her face. “Like you always have been. You’re going to die out here all by yourself and you’re going to know that no one cares about you. No one will find your body, no one will mourn you. No one cares about you.”

Lena worked her jaw firmly, still tasting the metallic tang of blood, as his words hit closer to home than even he realised.

There was a knife at his belt and Lena tensed when he reached for it.

“It’s gonna be slow and you’ll know it is coming.”

Lena tried to thrash away from the hands holding her, but they held tighter and the buzz of a taser fired.

She jerked in their hold as the volts ran through her body and she was dropped onto the steel like a puppet without strings.

Jerking and jolting on the floor she couldn’t control her own body and couldn’t move as the knife tip disappeared into the flesh of her arm. Groaning at the pain she could only watch as the blade travelled down her arm, splitting it open in a large gash and she could see how quickly her blood stained the floor.

“Goodbye Luthor,” the man said. Lena was lifted into the air, blood, warm and thick was wetting her body as she was bound to the side of the boat and tossed into the water.

A full length shiver went through her body as the water hit her and she shuddered before biting back a howl as the salt and water hit the gash in her arm.

Through the roaring in her ear she could hear the motor of the ship as they left her, alone and bleeding, to drown to death, or be torn to pieces by sharks.

“Fuck!” She cried out and grabbed at her arm, trying to compress it but feeling the gaping wound along the length of her hand.

Trying to focus she kicked out backwards, trying to keep herself buoyant as she tried in vain to stop the blood flow. If she was lucky, she would bleed to death before she drowned, unless she was in shark infested waters which, as her luck was going, was probably a high possibility.

The light of the boat was flashing as she caught the glimpse of it between the pulsing waves and she cursed them, violently, bringing their wives and children and even ancestors into it.

Once she was done, turning her attention to keeping herself alive, the chilling reality of her situation settled into her bones, as cold and as final as the ocean around her.

Lifting her arm out of the water the best she was able, she could see the rivers of red running down her arm, even in the faint light from the sky, and she calculated her chances before swearing again.

She would go into shock first, then her heart-rate would decrease and she would become confused and lethargic, and while she was trying to prevent herself from drowning, it wasn’t looking good for her survival chances.

She was gonna die. God. She was going to die. The thought should have scared her but instead she just wanted to laugh. She was going to die, alone and forgotten and never found. A lost girl.

“Help!” She tried to raise her voice above the lull of the ocean, knowing it was likely useless but still desperate to try.

Lena was a believer in that. When you need help, ask for it, and people, who were mostly good and king and caring, they would help. People proved this all over the world, every day, and Lena wanted to hope in it.

“Help me! Please!”

She choked a little as she tried to keep her head above the water and the warmth of her blood leaving her body was a stark contrast to the chill taking over her body, pressing against her from every side. Though, she had to admit, the water wasn’t actually as cold as she was expecting. Oddly it was almost warm, but that was probably her decreasing brain functions sending her weird signals.

Her body was already straining with exertion and she was struggling to keep her head above the water and her arms were shaking with the effort of trying to keep her bleeding arm above water and keep pressure on the wound.

Her breath was coming in rasping gasps, and exhaling as chokes because she inhaled water.

Her head was roaring, vision going hazy and she was starting to get cold now, cold enough for the water to feel warm. Her chest was rising and falling, wasting precious energy as she tried to breathe, to get air into her lungs to help her with blood flow, but her detached mind was aware that she was trying to compensate for the blood loss. Her body was stupid, her mind knew it was a blood problem but her body thought it was an air problem, which was a possibility but only because she was trying to keep her head above the water while she bled to death.

Her legs were starting to strain, kicking tiredly through the water as she tried to keep her head above the water.

Exhaustion was creeping up her body like the cold and she felt her head jerk forward before she launched it back out of the water, coughing harshly to expel the water from her lungs.

Her mind was still sending signals, telling her to keep going, to try to swim, but her body was unresponsive and Lena, logically, knew it was not good.

She had tried, she had tried so hard, all of her life, but here she was…. The last of a great family, the legacy of a family who had once been symbols of power and wealth and improvement and now only supported hate and violence. She had been the one to stand against her family and she was the one who was attacked, had her parties blown up, had the murder attempts, the rape threats, the vitriol, hatred and fear that the world couldn’t turn on Lex, because he was untouchable, that they turned on Lena. Lena who hadn’t wanted any of it, who had tried to be good, who was going to die alone and forgotten with her body falling to the bottom of the ocean before being torn apart by sea-life.

Part of her acknowledge the fact and stopped kicking. Drowning, she knew, wasn’t the splashy and showy thing shown in media. Drowning was slow and steady and a drifting into the cold eternal embrace of the ocean. At least her body would feed some thing, and, she clutched at her mothers necklace, taking some small comfort in it, the shell would be coming home. She clutched it close. At least she had something of her mother and well, maybe they were both going home.

_Help me_, she asked finally, asking whoever could listen or was there. Maybe someone would.

Still, the bodies instinct for survival was hardwired since the beginning of time, and she kept her mouth closed as she sunk under the waves, body tugged along by the oceans command. It was only when her lungs started to burn, when her vision was going grey, that she instinctively opened her mouth, desperate for any of that crisp, cold, salty sea-air.

Her first breath dragged air into her windpipe and her body jerked and contorted, trying to expel the water before inhaling again, and the liquid bunt and seared and she inhaled again, flooding her body with water. It was… calming, as the darkness cooed to her, drawing her into its embrace and she closed her eyes, letting herself fall when suddenly she was hit by something.

Her body was moved and then something else struck her, it was enough to force the water out of her body, but not all of it, and her lungs contracted, desperate and hopeful. A sliver of air was taken in, and then another firm body hit her and she was up and out of the water, held out of it by something she couldn’t define. There was water splashing on her face, the disturbance of water registering in the non-primitive part of her brain as her primitive brain desperately gasped for air.

Another thunk to her body came from another side and more water was expelled enough for Lena to choke out, for her body to jerk and heave as her exhausted muscles strained to keep her alive, to expel the water from her lungs.

There was a mass of bodies around her, blue-grey and solid and sleek and diving in the water, keeping her body near the surface.

_Dolphins_? Her mind enquired as the rest of it hunched over a strong body, expelling water in a burning mess of snot and bile and salt.

_Dolphins_. Her mind agreed, catching sight of a dorsal fin and a tail and then a cheeky smile. She choked up what seemed like an entire ocean, returning it to the sea and gratefully inhaled fresh, crisp air.

_Huh, that was nice,_ her mind said as she was draped over the body of a dolphin. Idly, almost drunk like, she lifted her arm up and examined the blood running down her arm and into the ocean.

Well. They had delayed the inevitable but at least it would be like falling asleep.

Oh well.

She let her eyes close. She was too tired for this, too tired for life, too tired for death. She just wanted it to end.

“Hi.”

Her eyelids fluttered open, certain she was finally, truly dying and hallucinations were part of it, because there was no way that another person was out in the middle of the ocean.

The man was, for lack of a better word, sexy as hell. He had a mane of hair and a cheeky smile with eye-brows that were on point. Usually Lena didn’t find facial hair attractive on a man, especially a beard, but he was wearing the look as though he were the God of it.

Fuck, Lena was so dead. And if she were dead, then this man was an Angel, not that she believed but hey, she was dead. What did she care? She closed her eyes and welcomed the eternal embrace of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe updates every Monday and Friday? Or maybe daily, who knows :D
> 
> Enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

Lena came too slowly, on something soft and cushioning her body and she tried to open her eyes and curl away from the soft blue light coming in through the window.

Sighing, and feeling the slight burn in her chest, she curled into her pillow. She was soft and warm and cocooned.

Her eyes flashed open.

What. The. Fuck.

Launching herself up right she looked around hurriedly, feeling the air around her tug slightly but also allow her past, letting her limbs glide through the… water?!

“Ahhhh!” She let out a shout and thrashed around, closing her mouth and shaking her head around, searching for an out.

The room she was in was curves and lines with no sharp edges and it was bright and smooth.

It was also, judging from the view, underground. The shock of it made her gasp, and she reflectively tensed in preparation for the resulting coughing fit and froze when she realised she wasn’t.

Heart hammering she parted her lips a hair and scooped a little of the water into her mouth. And then promptly exhaled the lot.

“What the fuck!” She yelped and darted back, with surprising strength and speed, to slam against the wall.

There was a woosh, a flashing light, and then a space in the wall was opening and a man, person, was um, well, floating into the room.

“Your Highness,” the person said, raising their palms in a universal gesture of peace. “Please… calm yourself. You are safe.”

Calm? Calm?! She was calm!

“What the fuck is going on?” She was talking. She was underwater. She was breathing and talking underwater. How was this possible?

“Your High-Miss Luthor,” the man said, lowering his hands and drifting towards her a little and she pressed against the wall behind her cautiously.

“I am Vulko. Nuidis Vulko,” he gave a little bow, dark hair somehow pinned behind his head in a severe fashion. “Chief Counsellor of the Throne of Atlantis.”

Atlantis. Lena paused as her mind connected the dots an she slowly looked over to the window as the man, Vulko, folding his arms behind his back and settled on the floor, watching her carefully but at a safe distance.

He had fair skin, black hair, and would be about sixty, if… Atlantean?... years were similar to Earth years. The strange wetsuit he was wearing, not withstanding, he was smiling fondly at her and he seemed like a fair man. He pointed to her arm.

“We have healed your injury. How did you come by such a wound?”

Lena glanced down at her arm, and pealed the seaweed bandage off of it hurriedly and then stared at her unblemished skin. What the……

In wonder she tilted her arm, trying to see where there should have been a several inch-long, inch deep slice, but all she saw was pale skin.

“Um, I- some people tried to kill me- what happened?” She asked, finally calming her heartbeat and giving the counsellor her attention.

His features had hardened with her information, and she swallowed. He had seemed kind and fair until she had told him someone tried to kill her, now he looked angry and intimidating.

He took a deep breath and force a smile onto his face.

“The King rescued you and brought you here for healing.”

Lena nodded slowly, taking in the information while her mind fired on the stimulation it was receiving. “How am I breathing?” She asked hesitantly. Maybe there was some sort of technology that allowed her to breathe? But, she glanced down her body and couldn’t see any weird device on her, only different clothing, so maybe they had some sort of magic?

Vulko hesitated a moment. “Your birth mother was of Atlantis. As her daughter, you are also of Atlantis. We are able to breathe underwater.”

Lena swallowed and her heart rate accelerated again, and she dug her nails into her palms.

“I want to go home,” she said suddenly, feeling faint and dizzy and her breathing increased.

“Please,” she begged, tone shifting and he met her gaze a long moment before nodding.

“Of course, Princ-“

“Don’t call me that!” She spat out, heart hammering as the events of the past week finally caught up with her and she bent over, feeling a pressure in her chest and she clutched at it, trying to calm her breathing.

Vulko was at her side moments later and carefully lowered a hand onto her back, and usually touch, and the touch of a stranger would make her recoil, but she allowed it, too focused on how it was suddenly hard to breathe and how her vision was sparking grey.

“Breathe,” he calmed her gently, rubbing her back firmly. “You’re okay,” he cooed and something about him now turned him from stern stranger to a kinder and gentler one. Lena followed his instructions, letting him guide her into controlling her breathing, and as she calmed herself, he respectfully stepped away from her.

“I can prepare a ship, or I can return you to the surface world myself immediately.”

“Now. Please,” Lena gasped out and tried to fight down the nausea in her belly.

“Of course,” Vulko bowed his head. “Please, come with me,” he held out his arm and she pushed off the wall, only to float forward. He smiled at her, and it wasn’t cruel or smirking, it was kind and understanding.

“You can’t harm yourself or others here,” he reassured her and kicked out with his feet and Lena slowly followed him.

Compartmentalising, she was aware that the water was warm, and at the depth she probably was, her body should be crushed, but nothing was happening to her. It led credence to Vulko’s claim of her being Atlantean, but she was too exhausted, mentally and physically, to process it, so she just followed him down the hallway.

“The King needs to see you before you leave,” Vulko said and he looked apologetic as they floated, swam, glided down a lit hallway.

Lena couldn’t hide her wince and brought her arms around herself before realising she needed them out to help guide her through the water.

The hallways were lit with blue lights and had windows every so often and Lena couldn’t help but gaze out them at the world around her. It was achingly beautiful and full of colour as well as some technology she would have loved to get her hands on.

As they got closer to their destination Lena was aware of guards. They wore similar suits to Vulko, the same indented fabric that covered the entire bodies, and had some medieval slash Lord of the Ring’s Elf armour. They had gauntlets, shoulder pieces, chest pieces, thigh skirts, bits connected to their thighs, and armoured boots. They also had helmets, kinda like the spartan ones but without the little mane. It was impressive but also very cool. But she was wary of the spears they carried. They looked sharp.

Two guards opened the doors and Lena was treated to a- well it was actually a small throne room, and there were three people inside. It had golden arched ceilings and curved windows with runes carved into coloured marble floors. On either side there were statues of King’s and Queen’s long past and it was gilded with gold and colour and Lena was in awe of its beauty.

“Vulko!”

A woman with long blonde hair and a flowing blue dress, which was scaled and reminded Lena of a mermaid, called out and approached quickly.

“Posidon!” She said, voice tainted in wonder. “You have your mothers eyes.”

She reached her hands up towards Lena’s face and Lena went still, wary and cautious.

“Atlanna,” Vulko warned and the woman’s hands curled back to her sides, but her eyes were wide and searching as she stared hungrily at Lena and it was very off putting.

“This is Lena Luthor.” Vulko turned his address to the man and woman approaching behind the first. Lena recognised his face-“ You… you saved me.”

He was shirtless, and far more muscled than she had originally thought and when he smiled at her Lena was sure a lesser woman would have swooned.

“I am Arthur,” he said and offered her his hand, bringing his other around the woman at his side. “But the Surface-dwellers call me Aquaman.”

Lena blinked. Aquaman. She had heard reports of this hero-person.

“Lena,” she said and shook it. Professionalism was important and Lena could fit into that role.

The red-headed woman at his side sighed and shook her head. “_Arthur_.”

“Hi! I’m Mera, Princess of Xebel. This is King Arthur, and his mother Queen Atlanna.”

Lena swallowed. “Nice to meet you,” she offered weakly, feeling her prior panic attack reigniting.

“I am about to escort Miss Luthor back to the surface world.”

“What?! Why?” The Queen Mother gasped and shifted as though to embrace Lena. “Vulko! She just came back to us.”

“It is for the best,” Vulko’s voice was stern, stern for a man addressing royalty and Atlanna glanced between him and Lena before her features softened.

“Of course…. It must be overwhelming,” she said and came closer slowly. Lena allowed her to take her hands between her own.

“Your mother was my little sister,” she said, blue eyes turning glassy and her smile was pained. “We thought she had been lost to us and now here _you_ are.”

She tightened her grip on Lena’s limp hands. “We are here to help you with any questions you may have, any aid you may need. You are our family... if you want to be.”

“With your permission I will remain on the surface world, ready to provide Miss Luthor with any information she desires, and provide protection.”

With Vulko’s words the three royals’ stiffened.

“What?” Demanded the king, voice a dangerous rumble and fire sparked in his mothers eyes.

“Miss Luthor came about her injuries by an assassination attempt.”

“I’ll kill them!” Atlanna roared, surprising everyone with her ferocity.

“Mother,’ Aquaman frowned at his mother and she sighed and rolled her eyes.

He looked at Lena, and she struggled to meet his eyes for longer than a second. Her heart was beating in her ears and she could feel its acceleration in her blood.

“Vulko will return you to the surface… cousin,” Arthur said gently and Lena wrapped her arms about her in the semblance of a hug which she so very desperately needed but wouldn’t receive.

“Thank you,” Lena said stiffly. Atlanna lifted her arms again.

“Might I hug you?”

Lena felt her heart trip over itself at the request but.. it clearly meant a lot to the Queen Mother and she didn’t want to displease anyone, so she nodded slowly.

The queen’s hair was ridiculous soft as it brushed Lena’s skin when Atlanna embraced her. The arms around her were warm and strong and against her instincts Lena melted into the embrace. She hadn’t had a maternal-like hug in, well, probably decades, and it was hard not to crave the affection.

She heard the Atlantean King speaking with Vulko, voice low and gravely like thunder, and she registered him ordering his advisor to stay with Lena as a guide and protector, and teach her everything she wanted to know if she chose to embrace her Atlantean heritage and she was thankful that he instructed him to respect Lena’s wishes. Vulko would take her to the surface and keep her safe from a distance, and when she was ready to speak, he would be there for her.

She didn’t really register much after she was guided from the throne room, a reluctant Atlanna hugging her tight before she left and out of the palace.

It was as beautiful and wonderful outside of the palace as it was in, and her tired eyes couldn’t help but take everything in, even as her mind was too exhausted to process it all.

“Take my hand,” Vulko offered his arm. Lena eyed it a moment before taking it.

“Just relax and hold on,” he was smiling as he said it. Lena wasn’t prepared for him kicking off with his feet and they were flying through the water. Glancing back, past her floating hair, she could see the water stream the two were creating and she wondered just how fast they were going and if she were more herself she would be itching with the desire to experiment.

They sped through the ocean, and as they went the area around her brightened until it was as though the entire ocean floor was lit with colour. She could see….everything… and was certain her eyes were wide with wonder. Curiously she didn’t have to narrow her eyes against the water pressure, in fact if she wasn’t under water and blitzing through it, she would have thought she were above ground, relaxing in her office or something equally controlled.

It must have taken them a few minutes to get where they were going and soon the floor was angling upwards and she could see shadows on the water.

Vulko halted them and waited for her to centre herself, before speaking.

“We are on the National City coast. Is there a specific place you would like to surface?”

Lena gave it a moments thought. Ideally she would be taken straight to her apartment, or maybe to her office, that was probably safer, but anything short of summoning Air Krypton would mean Lena would be seen and she couldn’t be seen looking like she was.

She pulled her outer layer off of her, thankful she was still in her clothes beneath it, and handed the fabric over to Vulko.

“A dock,” she said finally. “Preferably one where I can find a phone.”

“Of course,” Vulko took her hand again.

“High born and royal Atlanteans are able to breathe in and out of the water, however when we exit the ocean it will be…unpleasant.”

Lena’s eyes narrowed.

“How so?”

“We take the oxygen from the water, and to do that we have to swallow it. When we breach the surface we have to expel the water.”

Lena swallowed. “Sounds fun.” She couldn’t help but remember her near drowning and felt tendrils of panic threatening to overtake her.

She forced it down into one of her many, many overflowing boxes and let the advisor lead her to the surface.

Breaching the surface was as unpleasant and messy as Vulko had said, and she was reassured by her companion’s similar struggle, that she felt less self-conscious about it.

As she breathed in actual air, she took a moment to glance around.

She was in a marina, with large and flashy boats docked and the smell of salt and sea and fish, and she struck out for the first pier.

Hauling herself from the water she ignored the feeling of water cascading from her clothing and how it stuck to her skin, heavy and cold and frustrating.

Her shoes, and yes she still had them on, squished as she walked down the dock and she held her head high. A few people eyed her oddly but Lena swept past them. She needed a phone, and honestly, she wanted a fucking drink. She glanced back to speak to Vulko only to find he had disappeared and she frowned a little before continuing down the dock towards the shore.

Fortunately there was a café and restaurant on the dock and Lena entered it as though she owned it.

A waiter that past her glanced at her in a very familiar look, one that said you don’t belong here, but usually it was over her name and blood rather than her appearance.

“Excuse me,” she said as she walked up to the counter. “May I please use your phone?”

The waitress’ eyes were wide, maybe recognising her or wondering what a woman in soaking clothes was doing in her workplace, but she dug into her apron and handed over her phone after unlocking it.

“Thank you,” Lena said and quickly dialled a familiar number.

Jess answered immediately.

“_Hello_?”

“Jess,” she said, turning from the people who were watching her, and a few had their cells out to take sneaky pictures.

“I need you to have Toni bring me a towel, a change of clothes, and the car to the NC Docks. Immediately. I’ll be in the Bach café.”

Jess paused before answering immediately. “_Of course, Miss Luthor_.”

“Thank you,” Lena replied and hung up before returning the phone to the waitress.

“You don’t have a towel, do you?”

A few moments later and a towel was being handed to her. It smelt a little bit, but Lena wanted to be dry so she patted herself dry.

“Miss… Luthor….. .”said the same waitress cautiously. Lena lifted a brow, acknowledging her identity. “What happened to you?”

Lena nearly snorted. Where should she start? She wondered as she towelled her hair off.

“I was abducted, driven out to the middle of the ocean, and thrown overboard,” she said and then rubbed the towel over her head, missing the wide eyes of the waiter and the glances exchanged past her.

“Can I-erm, get you anything? Should I call the police?”

Lena popped her head out from under the towel. “Whisky?”

The waitress nodded, clutching her pad to her chest. “The police?”

“No,” Lena said sharply before softening her tone. “I’d rather speak to them myself. Thank you.”

The girl nodded and left Lena to herself, and Lena glanced at the fabric seating before deciding it would be best for her to go and sit outside.

The sun was warm and she felt her clothing heat uncomfortably as it was stuck to her skin and it was irritating as she tried to settle in the corner, away from the curious eyes and lenses.

She was pretty sure she would have her face blown over social media soon, and she wanted to be back, at one of her safe houses, or even her office, before that happened.

Soon the waitress was returning with her whisky as well as two slices and a muffin.

“You should probably eat something,” she said and set them down before edging back.

Lena eyed the food and her stomach grumbled and she felt her cheeks heat.

“Thank you?”

The girl nodded but she still hadn’t gone, and Lena eyed her carefully.

“Can I help?” If the girl was after money she would have to wait, Lena didn’t have anything on her apart from her clothes and her mothers necklace, she’d more than compensate this business when she could, and it had been offered and not asked for.

“Can I have your autograph?” She went red after asking and tucked some hair behind her ears.

Lena’s smile went crooked, but she nodded her agreement.

“Ohmygosh! This is so cool. Thank you!” The girl virtually thrust her order pad at Lena and Lena quickly wrote her signature, though it wasn’t her official signature, she wasn’t that stupid.

“You’re like my hero,” the girl said and ducked her head. “I’ve seen all of your TedTalks and I follow all of the L-Corp research and development. Your STEM program for schools is so cool!”

Bemused but also flattered Lena thanked her, more genuine than before. It was…nice to have someone actually like the work she was doing, appreciate what she was trying to achieve.

The girl, flushed with pleasure and a little breathless, almost bounced away and Lena was left with far too much food and a cheap whiskey.

She had nibbled on the raspberry slice and sipped the whiskey, trying to sort out how she needed to proceed, when she heard, “Miss Luthor!”

Lena lifted her eyes to see Jess striding towards her, eyes wide, with Toni on her heels, carrying a towel and some clothes.

“Jess. Toni,” she inclined her head and rose to her feet.

“Where have you been?”

Lena paused. “What day is it?”

“Friday,” Jess replied and Toni handed Lena another towel. “Where have you been? Are you okay? How did you get here? What happened?”

Jess had a lot of questions, and usually she was so unflappable that Lena was almost content to let her flail, but Jess was loyal and competent and cared for her.

“I was kidnapped and they tried to drown me,” she answered with a little shrug. She wasn’t going to mention her now-healed cut, because that would mean explaining where she had been and well, that was a whole can of worms she wasn’t sure she was ready to open.

Jess’ mouth parted in shock and then she was growling, “Who?”

Lena shrugged. She didn’t know their names, nor did she get a good look at all their faces. The kidnappers hadn’t been the same people as the ones on the boat, so they were probably contractors.

“I’ll have your security upgraded,” Jess said, slipping into her professionalism.

“Miss Luthor,” Toni, eyed the growing crowd around them. “Might we get you somewhere safe?”

Lena sighed, pushed her plate away and stood. “I’ll go get changed,” she picked up the bag of clothing. “Jess, could you please settle my tab?”

There were nods and then Lena was brushing past some people and heading for the bathroom.

She changed quickly and quietly, pulling her clothing off her body and shaking the sand out of it. When she was finished she placed her wet clothes into the bag and exited the bathroom. The crowd had grown, and Toni was standing guard at the door while Jess was thumbing away on her phone.

“Lets get you out of here, Miss Luthor.”

Lena smiled sadly, recent events settling in her mind, first she was Lena, adopted PR stunt, then she was the bastard daughter. She was born Athena, now she was the daughter of a Princess, and an Atlantean. That was a lot of people. It made her wonder, who was she now?

~*~

The fishing vessel, Poseidon’s Mistress, was a rusted heap of junk, barely seaworthy, and its crew were the rough, sea-men type, though a little nastier than stereotypes. Her crew had gone out late Thursday night and had returned early morning, with no fish and without wetting their nets. They had promptly gone to the bar, the Treasure Trove, and had opened a tab. Drinks were flowing. It had been over a day since they had started, and their tab was clocking into the tens of thousands, with food and drink and even shots for the entire bar. They had bragged and laughed and called out threats that were passed off, calling themselves rich, murderers, and even offing that Luthor bitch. Prone to bragging and lies, no one believed them, and as they kept the beer flowing, no one paid them much attention.

The five men were heroes, providing free drink and food and so it was with boos and jeering, that the owner, a large tattooed man, instructed them to settle their bill and leave. They had been drinking since early in the morning when they had come back into port, and it was one of the more impressive binge drinks that the bar had seen, but the owner was tired of it, and the glass they were breaking.

With complaints and threats the men were guided towards the exit, having had their tab settled by the captain, and the entire room was witness to what happened next.

“Your boats being wrecked,” a man said, striding into the room and looking around to find the captain of Poseidon’s Mistress.”

“What?” The man gaped and the stranger nodded.

“Yeah, some guy with a spear is just,” he jabbed his hand forward in a stabbing motion. “Its sinking.”

An enraged yell followed and the captain and his crew drunkenly left the bar and stumbled down the docks.

A few curious patrons grabbed their drinks and followed the crew towards the peer, interested in what was happening. The Poseidon’s Mistress crew were not the most well liked, their practices were unethical and they often caused trouble in the bar, so people were interested in someone punishing them.

The news bearer had been correct. The dock where the Poseidon’s Mistress had anchored was empty and the water where it had sat was torrid and a dirty mixture of blue and sand.

All of a sudden, a large shape was thrown from the water and it landed on the dock, water gushing from it, and it looked like a crushed trashcan.

“Our boat,” said one of the crew-members dumbly.

Another form burst from the water and landed with a thump on the dock.

He was heavily muscled and tattooed and he slammed his trident into the wooden planks as he straightened.

“That your boat?” He rumbled jabbing a finger at the heap of metal which was now revealed to be Poseidon’s Mistress. The less drunken fisherman took a few steps back, and calls to the police were made and cell phones came out.

“Yes,” said one of the crew.

“You wrecked it,” the Captain slurred, blinking harshly, lips twisted as he tried to understand.

Water fell from the strange water man as he stalked forward. “And I’m about to wreck you,” the man snarled before he attacked.

The crew didn’t stand a chance, even if they weren’t half drunk. The water-man threw them around like they were dolls and didn’t soften his punches.

When he was done he stopped and his voice was a growl as he jerked the captain up by his hair.

“You spread the message,” he rumbled, tightening his hand and the captain winced. “Lay a finger on Lena Luthor again, and I’ll kill ya. I’ll kill you all.”

There was a sonic boom in the distance and the water-man dropped the captain before kicking him harshly into the ocean.

Threat delivered he strode towards his trident.

Supergirl came on the scene to find a handsomely rugged man walking away from a group of humans that he had thoroughly beaten.

“You there! Stop!” She demanded as she landed lightly on the deck.

The stranger nodded a little and whipped his trident from the wooden plank.

“Supergirl,” he rumbled and Kara fought down a wince. He was one of the most attractive men she had ever seen, with a rugged beard, quick smile, and a mane of hair.

“Met your cousin,” he said and lifted a brow and ducked his head. Kara gasped, he knew Kal? Did that mean…. Trident, muscles, swimming… he was Aquaman!

“Self-righteous douche,” he rumbled and turned his back on her.

Kara growled and pressed her lips together. How dare he just walk away from her like she wasn’t a proper threat!

“What was this about?” She demanded as she zipped around to face him. He was a member of the Justice League, so clearly he would have a good reason for going to town on several humans.

He looked thoroughly done, but there was a flicker of anger in his eyes.

“These assholes tried, and nearly succeeded, to kill Lena Luthor,” he said and Kara gasped. Lena?! Lena! She listened hurriedly for the woman she hadn’t heard from in over a week, and located her heartbeat at the top of L-Corp tower and relaxed a hair. Lena was okay. Lena was safe.

“I’m just making sure she stays safe,” he growled and Kara glared at him.

How dare he proclaim to be her hero! That was her! She, Supergirl, was Lena’s protector! Not some half fish-human who carried a large fork. Who did he think he was?

“National City, and the people in it,” Kara said firmly, ignoring the voices in her ear, “are under my protection. Not yours.”

Arthur Curry was smirking, and god-damn it if it wasn’t sexy, as he turned back around.

“Then you’re doing a bang-up job, Supes,” he said and winked at her. “You’ll be part of the League in no time.”

And then he turned back and dove into the water. She could have caught him before he touched it, had she been anything but frozen in fury.

Gaping after Aquaman she clenched her fists and quickly scanned the injured humans for injuries. There were many that needed hospital treatment and she grabbed them all, holding them in a pile and racing them to the nearest hospital. The DEO told the hospital she was coming, and then she returned back to the docks. Police were already showing up, and Kara navigated them as she found one of the less wounded fishermen.

“Hey,” she said, addressing one who had been tossed into the water and had a blanket over his shoulders. “What happened? What did I hear about Lena Luthor?”

The man had gone pale at her arrival, and if possible had gotten even whiter with her question. He shook his head hurriedly, and his heart-rate accelerated as he told her that he had no idea what she was talking about and that the fish-man had just attacked them.

“They’ve been drinking all day,” said one of the men lingering near-by and Kara gave him her attention.

“What happened?”

“They went out last night, came back early this morning with no catch and started drinking. Said they were rich and that they had-“ the man paused, seeing Kara’s eyes narrow. “Um, er, implying they had killed Lena Luthor.”

Kara spun back to the fisherman with a growl. “Is this true?” She snarled and he shrunk away from her a little.

His head jerked once in a nod.

“We didn’t know who it was we was supposed to get rid of,” he said, voice shaking and his heart beat was stuttering. “They brought us a box and just told us to get rid of it. Jimmy would know more. I just drove the boat.”

“Jimmy who?” Kara demanded as the mans words settled in. Someone had kidnapped Lena and tried to kill her.

“Jim Feilding,” the fisherman said and Kara glanced at the nearest police officer as Winn was saying something in her ear.

“_Supergirl. Social Media is blowing up with pictures of Lena Luthor in a café not far from your location. Witness’ say she claimed someone tried to drown her.”_

“Thanks Winn,” she said and glanced around for the café. “Ill go and check it out.”

“This man just admitted to me he was part of an attempted assassination attempt on Lena Luthor,” she informed the officer and the officer looked startled before nodding to her and the cuffs came out.

Kara nodded to him and then was launching herself to her feet and blitzing through the air.

She focused on Lena’s heartrate and dodged sky-scrapers and apartment buildings as she tried to get to her.

As she got closer she cast her eyes over the building and then paused. Lena’s office, in fact the entire floor, was invisible to her eyes. Lead-lined.

Heart twirling, because this was a new and had obviously been a direct result of Lena learning that Kara was Supergirl.

Hesitantly she lighted on the balcony. The windows were open and the glass was clear, but….something told her that she needed to tread carefully. She hadn’t heard anything from Lena, and the DEO agents who had been set to follow her had lost her on the outskirts of National City, and had then reported she was going to Ireland. They had picked her back up when she returned to National City, but, clearly, they had lost her when she was kidnapped, and Kara would make sure Alex spoke to them about that. You don’t just kidnap a high profile CEO like Lena and just get away with it, especially under the nose of some of the best agents in the country.

She knew the moment Lena became aware of her, via motion sensor on the balcony, which Kara saw before Lena pressed a button on her desk. To her surprise and sorrow a blind whirled down from the ceiling, covering the window and leaving Lena unseen, as it was lined with lead.

“Lena, wait,” Kara said desperately and Lena’s heart was beating out a swift pace though she showed no sign of hearing Kara. “Please,” she said, tapping on the glass and trying desperately to see through it.

“I need to know you’re okay, “ she said, and the glass was cool to the touch and she was half of the mind to break if just so she could reach Lena, to see she was okay. But she needed to respect Lena’s boundaries, respect any potential of further friendship, by staying away and giving Lena space.

Lena ignored her, ignored her knocking on the glass and then there was a click of a button and then music was playing. It was Backstreet Boy’s and Kara’s’ heart clenched and she thumped her hand on the glass, letting her emotion out, and it cracked a little. She eyed the crack, slowly brining her hand from the glass.

“I miss you,” she said quietly, not trying to get through to Lena but just…admitting it to herself. And it was true, she did miss Lena. Missed her a lot. More than she had ever thought she could. From what Aquaman had said, or implied, he had been the one to rescue Lena, and he was also the one claiming to protect her. She didn’t like that. He had been around for what, five seconds?

Kara had protected Lena for a long time, and she would still protect her. Aquaman should just stay in the ocean. Lena didn’t need some rugged beef-cake with an oversized fork to protect her, she had Kara.

Letting out a sigh she turned away from the window and slowly lifted from the balcony. Lena wanted nothing to do with her, and well, she was a little lost about it. Normally she talked to Lena every few days, and she had lunch with her at least once a week, even when she started dating James. Lena always, always made time for her. And now she wasn’t. It was… it hurt more than she could say. She just missed her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So..... I'm planning a sequel, just a few scenes as of yet, but! My new project! Hanahaki Disease :D I don't think I've seen one for SC yet, so that's gonna be fun :D
> 
> Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

Lena eyed the whiskey at the bottom of the tumbler before tipping her head back and swallowing the lot. Her alcohol consumption would be something she might have to be concerned with, but she _had_ always been able to hold her liquor…weirdly well… and now she knew the reason why. Apparently, she was a half human Atlantean daughter of a princess. It was… a lot to take in and honestly Lena was just sick of it. First it was Kara, then it was her mother, and now it was that she was a half-breed fish-woman and a princess. It was… she just needed a break. Honestly. But Legacy wasn’t something you could just set aside for a day, Atlas had no choice, and nor did she. She could either drown, or well, apparently she couldn’t actually drown now which was helpful she guessed, but she could still be crushed, and the world was a weighty burden.

She poured herself another drink. In accepting her identity as Bronte’s daughter, as being born Athena Kelly, daughter of an artist, she had brought that part of her into who she was now. On the scale of things it didn’t truly factor into her current identity as much as who she had become. She didn’t remember her childhood prior to her adoption, and who she was now was a direct consequence of that. She knew that scientifically the love and affection her birth mother must have given her set the foundations of who she was now, but it wasn’t something she could see in her psyche, so it wasn’t something she could change or even identify. She knew it was there, in the way she knew her building of L-Corp Tower had foundations, but unless she looked underground, she wouldn’t see it. It was just there.

She could accept she was Bronte Kelly’s daughter, it wasn’t something so life changing. It was nice to know where she came from, to know that she was certainly loved, the photo and words her mother had left her was evidence of that. She would have to wait until her P.I brought her the information she wanted, but she knew that, knew she was loved, she had been wanted, someone had seen her as beautiful and kind and smart and gentle.

Being, or having been, Athena Kelly was easy to accept. Athena Kelly was the foundation of Lena Luthor. She couldn’t reject it any more than she could reject herself. It was just there. Her other… identity, or rather the revelation she had most recently learnt, was far more conflicting.

First she was a halfling, part of a species she hadn’t even been aware existed, and that on its own was… so… overwhelming she wasn’t quite sure what to think. All her life she had been Lena, Lena Luthor, human, and now she wasn’t. Now she was Lena Luthor, half cast mermaid, and she was feeling rather lost. She’d like to speak to someone about it, about a conflict of identity, but she wasn’t sure who she could talk to, or even if she could trust anyone to talk to. Kara would have been her first choice, but Kara was a liar and a back-stabber, and she wasn’t interested in speaking to her any time soon, if at all.

She had an entire new world to learn, and it looked as though the Atlantean’s had technology far beyond anything Lena had access to, and the only people she knew had such technology were alien’s, and the DEO, who to her understanding, kept the technology they stole and used it for themselves. They weren’t advancing humanity in the slightest, they were just keeping potentially world-changing technology to themselves. Lena didn’t believe in such things. Technology needed to be shared with the world, to advance the lives of everyone, not kept in the shadows. Lena wanted to help everyone. It would be her Legacy, not the Luthor Legacy, Lena’s Legacy.

It wasn’t the new world, not truly, she wasn’t an asshole. She was more than happy for anyone with values of honesty, justice, hard-work, equality, she wanted the world to be fair. It may not be the most achievable of her beliefs, but it was one she strived for. She wanted the so-called American Dream for all, for anyone who came to the United States and wanted to improve their life. It may have been naïve but she hoped that some day the country and the world would get there, and be the people they strived to be. To be kind and welcoming, to be open and educated, to learn and grow and achieve together.

The Atlantean culture, and having it be hers was…something else all together. She had already formed who she was, she knew who she was, and she had to fight, every single day, to defend who she was. She fought the world, she fought her family, she fought her name and her blood, and most importantly, she fought herself. Her demons sneered at her in every reflection, and every morning she snarled back and turned away.

Sighing she took another drink and absently rose to her feet, gently cradling the bottle between her fingers.

She had returned to L-Corp with Jess and Toni and had promptly called for her head of PR. She had been unusually open and was certain her words and her condition would be on social media in no time, and then the reporters would come flocking.

It hadn’t taken her very long to get her story out, and she still hadn’t quite processed it, and so was able to easily tell her PR team what had happened to her. She mentioned her kidnapping, waking up on a boat, what she recalled of her assailants, and then her being thrown overboard as the boat jetted away. She had left out her wounded arm, and her rescuer, stating she didn’t know who had saved her, thinking it wouldn’t be proper for her to out an entire culture, or did they count as a species? She’d have to look into that, though their increased abilities suggested some divergence from the Homo sapien species. Did that mean she wasn’t….wasn’t human either? It had been another thing to shove into her little box and deal with never.

Once she had delt with the potential PR nightmare, she had then summoned the Lawyers to her office. Jess hadn’t taken Lena’s office, instead there was an office next door, and Jess had decided to use it while she had been temporarily in charge of L-Corp.

They had sat and discussed with her what options she had to move forward, and if she wanted to press charges. Of course in the middle of their discussion Jess had interrupted and turned the television on, only for Lena to be treated with her….cousin… Arthur… the King of Atlantis and Aquaman, beating up some unfortunately familiar faces.

“That looks an awful lot like them,” she said and let out a sigh, wondering if she could kick her very expensive lawyers out of her office in favour of an in-depth conversation with hundred-year-old whiskey.

Her lawyers had a quick discussion before her head lawyer suggested she prepare a statement to give to the police, and that they would be certainly paying her a visit, even if she didn’t want to press charges. Which, she actually sort of did. Usually she was, well, not okay with people trying to kill her, but she wasn’t holding out for being saved. She had a good life, she had all the things she could have wanted, an education that cost more than entire generations could earn, and she had countless opportunities. Someone would eventually get what they wanted, and her casket would be consumed by flame.

She had taken steps to protect herself but she knew that no matter how many scenarios she saw, how many outcomes she prepared for, she knew that one way or another, maybe soon, or maybe years in the future, someone would succeed. She couldn’t fight it and… she didn’t want to. She fought every day and it was exhausting. Maybe they’d be doing her a favour. Thinking such things lead to dangerous and dark thoughts and she turned away from them, she had far too much on her plate to even think of wanting it all to be over.

Soon her lawyers were leaving her be, and Jess quietly returned and said she would be collecting some of Lena’s things from her apartment and returning soon. Jess used her no nonsense tone and Lena was too exhausted to fight her and waved her off, ignoring Jess’ smug smile.

It was nice to have someone caring about her, even if it was her assistant, and she was able to muster a smile in Jess’ direction before she left. Jess was good like that. Able to sense her needs before she voiced them, and she had known, instantly, that Lena wouldn’t want to return to her apartment building, not just yet, especially after she had been attacked in the hallway.

Lena would be updating her security for certain, and she had an apartment already being secured, by several different security teams and only she had the complete plans for the building and layout, and had it hidden in several shell companies. Her safety was important to her, and having it threatened made her uneasy. Until she was satisfied with her security and her new building she would be utilising the lead-lined and secure private rooms that were connected to the CEO office.

Luthor wealth, paranoia, and intelligence lead to many safe-rooms like it, and the NC one had been of her own design. She walked to it now, and used her palm and retinal scanner, and a blood sample to allow herself access.

It was small, only a bed, shower and toilet, refrigerator, and a small cooking and cleaning facility.

Lena kept a spare change of clothes here, for when she was too busy to leave work, and now Jess had brought her new clothes, hygiene products, and had promised to have groceries added to the L-Corp cafeteria order.

Honestly all she wanted now was a shower and her bed. She ambled over to the door that split the shower and toilet from the kitchen and bed.

She relaxed in her shower, soaking in the hot water and the calming gel and gently massaged her shampoo and then conditioner into her hair. Her showers had always been her favourite part of the day, and a lot of things were starting to make sense, and she really, really, really just wanted one part of her life to not be connected back to her…murky origins.

The relaxation of the shower negated, she stepped out and towelled herself dry. As her mirror lost its fog she took a moment to examine herself. Her body was the same as it had always been, and it didn’t even show any sign of the ordeal she had been through. Her body was the exact same. She didn’t even have a scar from the deep gash on her arm that had almost killed her.

It was…. Terrifying…. She should have died, and maybe she deserved to, but she should have, but she didn’t because she was…not human.

It was, well, she would deal with that at another stage. For now, her bed was calling to her. 

~*~

Lena tapped her fingers absently against the back of the wooden park bench she was sitting on. It was three weeks after her kidnapping and origin realisation and she had….finally decided that yes, she would like to learn about her mother, about Bronte, and her culture. Lena wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a part of it, but she did want to know more about her mother.

She had taken a sample of her own blood and run it against the sample McGrath and O’Connell had sent her, and had agreed with their conclusion, she was the biological daughter of the female in the sample. The evidence suggested that the woman was Bronte Kelly, and combined with the letter and picture, it seemed more than likely she was Bronte’s daughter. That had been an okay conclusion. She was okay with that, she had very few memories of that time in her life, and she was Lena Luthor now, and Lena Luthor would always be in her past.

Her discomfort had come from the confirmation of the abnormalities in her DNA. It seemed highly unusual that no one, namely her family, hadn’t noticed Lena’s own genetics differed slightly, but under several controlled tests, and a quick dip into the ocean, she had determined that her DNA _changed_ in its presence. Even after her quick dip and subsequent panic attack, she had monitored her blood samples over the next few days, as she returned to her avoid-water-at-all-costs routine.

Her DNA, and the oddity in it, went into…hibernation… and upon contact with water, namely _salt_ water, it came alive again. It was fascinating, and for almost a week Lena had experimented on herself and had come to several startling oddities of her own, ones that put her on a superhuman level. It was not a pleasing discovery.

She was stronger than she had been, even after avoiding the ocean, as though something in her DNA had awoken when she had nearly drowned surrounded by her own blood. Her times and speeds on the treadmill had been enough for her to halt under her own power, horrified by her own speed and endurance.

To her dismay no blade could pierce her skin, and she took a hammer to her hand only to find it didn’t even leave a mark, let alone cause her any discomfort. She hadn’t been game enough to try anything more intense on the off chance that she over-calculated.

Her body had been her own her entire life, and now it was… now it wasn’t hers anymore. How could she trust it when she had no control over how it would, or rather how it should, react? How could she trust herself when she didn’t know herself? The answer was simple. She couldn’t. She was a loose canon walking around, and she didn’t know how to keep herself, and the people around her, safe.

She’d read somewhere, that we are responsible for our demons when we let them out, and she had let hers out, no, she had let hers take over her body. She was responsible for it now. Logically she knew that it wasn’t her fault, and indeed, it was no ones fault, however it wasn’t something she had any control over. She didn’t have a choice. And that was… it was out of her control, everything was out of her control.

She had been raised under a strict thumb, an arched brow and sharp word more cutting than a knife, more bruising that a raised fist. Lillian had run the household to strict standards, and Lena had been unable to fight against the tsunami that was her mother, it was impossible, Lena wasn’t strong enough. The only thing she had control over was herself. How she carried herself, what she said, how she acted. What she ate. Or even if she didn’t eat. Control was important to her, she had been raised with none of it, not truly, and as an adult she had coveted it. And now her very own body, the one thing she had on her side, the one thing she was able to control, had betrayed her.

As an educated woman, a woman of logic and fact and science, she followed the scientific process of information gathering, analysation, theoretical discussion, and then conclusions. To figure out who she was now, or who she could be, she needed more facts. She needed Vulko.

“Your Highness.”

“Vulko,” Lena turned her gaze on the Atlantean who had taken a seat next to her. “I prefer Lena.”

“Of course,” he smiled and inclined his head. He had assimilated magnificently to surface-world culture, wearing a crisp suit and she squinted at it-Armani?- before shrugging it off. The wealth of the surface often fell to the depths, especially in previous ages, so it would not surprise Lena that they had surface-world wealth. Or maybe, she considered as Vulko placed a little white box on the seat next to them, they sold some of their technology. And she made a mental note to enquire if she could get her hands on some of it.

“This box will allow no one to over-hear us,” Vulko said and he lifted a coffee cup to his lips with a sigh.

“The surface dwellers have created many impressive flavours. I have missed coffee.”

Lena tilted her head, sipping her own cup before lifting a brow curiously. “You drink coffee?”

Vulko smiled at her. “I trained young Arthur on our ways. He insisted I learn more about these people. It was a fair exchange.”

Lena took another sip, “I want to know about my mother.”

Vulko inhaled and he was smiling softly, gazing out of the grass and the people in the park.

“Your mother was the second born daughter of King Triton and Queen Vanessa, Alanna of Atlantis. She was a bright and vivacious and kind,” he ducked his head fondly, a smile darting across his lips even as his eyes were sombre, “and had a talent for finding trouble.”

Lena felt her lips twitch, trying to picture her mother as a child, young and curious and finding trouble. “What happened? The P.I I hired wasn’t able to find out much about her.”

The P.I hired on her behalf by her mothers lawyers had returned with the same information Lena’s own P.I had found. A girl, who was later named Bronte, after the thunderous storm that had thrown her up onto a beach in the middle of Galway Bay, with no identification, unusual clothing, and with blunt force trauma to the skull. It had been, according to the doctors who had first seen the girl, a miracle she had survived the blow. Bronte, given the name Kelly-picking it herself after one of the nurses who had helped her- was placed in the system after no family came to claim her.

She had a talent for learning, was ridiculously intelligent, and had an affinity for art. Her art got her through art school, and gave her a career, and a comfortable lifestyle. Bronte’s meeting of the father of her child was documented as a white, wealthy man from America, who she met on a beach. Her daughter, named Athena, was born nine-months later and the father had no presence in her life.

Bronte had drowned one day and her body had never been recovered. Her daughter, Athena, had been placed in a foster home temporarily and was swiftly adopted, though those records were sealed. When Lena’s lawyers had requested the information be released to them, they had only learnt the exact same information they already knew. Someone, and Lena suspected her father, had cleaned up after Athena very well.

All in all, it hadn’t been much information, and Lena was desperate for more.

“War,” Vulko let out a heavy sigh. He glanced down at his hands and Lena shifted uncomfortably on the bench. She was used to expensive cushions, not wooden beams.

“Queen Atlanna was to wed King Orvax of Xebel, however she was not agreeable to the match,” a wry smile deepened the lines in Vulko’s face. “When she fled Atlantis, her sister, Alanna, tried to go with her. They were set upon by Xebel Guard’s, loyal to Orvax.”

Vulko sighed and his voice dropped, grave and sombre. “Atlanna fought her way out, but your mother was struck in the clash. We do not know what happened to her, and fear she had been killed.”

“How did she die?” Lena asked, a few moments later as she processed what had been told to her. It wasn’t a surprise that other peoples and cultures still had their conflicts.

“She was murdered,” Vulko said simply, but there was an undercurrent of fury and loss there.

“From what we were able to gather your mother went into the ocean and called out- come to me, I believe were the words she used-and because she is Atlantean, and an Atlantean high-born, _royalty_, her call was magnified. A group of Xebel Rebels, still loyal to Orvax and furious over Atlanna’s disregard of their marriage, came across your mother and took their revenge on Atlantis.”

There was something heavy in Vulko’s eyes as he lifted his gaze from his hands to her. “Your mother was already dead when we got to her,” he sounded almost heart-broken by the admission before his eyes turned flinty. “But we killed those animals. We did not know about you,” he ducked his head, brow tight, “I am sorry.”

Lena let his words settle over her and quietly processed the new information.

“I have a plan of what I’d like to learn about,” she offered and finished the rest of her coffee. It was cold and she grimaced at the taste. She then hesitantly told Vulko what she wanted to learn about, starting with history, and legends. She wanted the language, music and art, politics, social laws, actual laws, social structure and social etiquette, and, well, she was very interested in the technology.

Vulko didn’t seem daunted by the list, in fact he seemed proud and he ducked his head. “Of course. I may need to seek clarification from our Sage’s for some of your questions. I’ll bring you our equivalent of textbooks, and I can begin teaching you Atlantian immediately, if you like?”

Lena nodded, smiling shyly. A culture was in its language, and she wanted to know, even if she wasn’t sure how she felt about it being her own, or its potential to be her own.

Vulko grinned. “We have an alphabet of twenty-nine characters and ten number characters.”

Lena sat quietly listening as Vulko explained how their language worked, how the language was formed and had developed. Vulko even wrote out the characters and their English translation on the back of an email. It wasn’t perfect, Vulko’s words, but it would do for the moment. He allowed her to record him speaking the letters so that she could listen to it and copy it later. The advisor promised to return shortly with more information for her, properly drawn characters and books on history and myth and culture, information Lena was beginning to crave.

Lena’s phone beeped, letting her know that she had run out of time, and she sighed as she silenced it.

“Thank you for speaking with me, Vulko,” she said and rose to her feet. The advisor was already on his feet, hands clasped behind his back.

“It is my pleasure, your,” he halted and smiled. “Lena. I am here to help.”

“Thank you,” Lena repeated and Vulko ducked his head in a bow.

Lena had gathered, from the behaviour she had seen and the words she’d heard, that the Atlantean’s, as both a species and a people (for the name given to the sea people but also to the Kingdom Atlantis, and now she, was from), that they had some sort of monarchy. That each of the tribes, or peoples, had their own monarchy and hierarchy. Arthur was King of Atlantis, but also the King over the other kingdoms, some sort of High-King, or an Emperor? Lena was looking forward to learning about it.

Because Arthur, and now Lena, was born of the Royal line, to Atlanna, he had claim to the throne, so technically, did Lena, and he had claimed his birth right of Atlantis, and then in a massive battle had claimed the mythical birth right of Ocean Master- Ruler of the Sea.

So, the bow hadn’t made her uncomfortable, she had done business in Japan after all, it was that she was not expected to respond. As a High-born she and Vulko were on equal footing, according to his quick discussion of social structures, but as a Royal, as a Royal of Atlantis, she had a higher rank, so she did not have to bow back to him. The lack of equality, lack of respect that she perceived to be offering Vulko, was unsettling but she allowed it.

“I will see you shortly,” Vulko promised, ducking his head again, and this was less of a bow and more of a long, single nod, but Lena’s smile was a little uncomfortable. He didn’t seem to notice as he tucked his little white box into his pocket and Lena itched to get her hands on some of the Atlantean tech.

Watching him walk away, and again admiring the quality in his suit, she leant back on the seat, ignoring how numb her ass had gotten, and let her brain pick out important facts.

Her phone went off again and she reluctantly rose to her feet, making sure she had her belongings, before slowly walking back towards L-Corp.

She had reclaimed the helm of her company, needing the routine after her kidnapping and recent revelations, though she had taken steps in order to lessen her work load, for her own health.

Cat Grant was flying in from Washington shortly, the media mogul wanting to discuss her re-purchase of CATCO from Lena in person, and Lena wanted to be ready for her when she arrived for her meeting.

Lena had left CATCO under James’ wing, and while it may not have been the wings of Cat Grant, he had done an admirable task, though it would have been better if he had given it his entire time and attention rather than running off in a suit and beating people up. Though it would soon be out of his hands and back in Cat’s. She hadn’t spoken with James, just as she hadn’t spoken with Kara or Alex, or any of their friend group, of Lena’s former friend group, and she wouldn’t admit she was lonely, not when she was still so mad and sad and betrayed.

She had taken a leave of absence from both companies and had left a private message with James breaking up with him and telling him that he should not contact her. When she wanted to speak to him, she would reach out. To his credit he had tried to apologise, had left multiple messages on her phone, with Jess, had even waited outside her building to speak with her. Lena hadn’t been thrilled with that, not that he had wanted to apologise, to explain, to salvage their relationship, but that he had done so by disregarding her wishes. He had probably wanted her to know that she still had him as a pillar of support, that he was on her side, but it had still bothered her. She hadn’t wanted him to contact her and he had tried to force the issue. With honourable intentions sure, but still, disregarding her wishes.

Kara hadn’t tried, that she was aware of, after the first time. Though that may have been because Lena had lined her buildings with lead based paint, and had high-pitch, low volume speakers installed in her cars, on her balcony, and in her home so that she couldn’t hear her. She had even, after her kidnapping, taken the liberty of attaching a muffler to her heart so that Kara wouldn’t be able to listen for her heart-beat. She had also installed a thin layer of Kryptonite emitters on her balconies, but she was thankful she had yet to use them. The idly wondered what the DEO, probably led by Alex Danvers, would have to say about that. And wondered if she’d be arrested straight away.

It had been a surprise that Alex hadn’t forced her way into her buildings and demanded she sign a NDA, or make some other vague threats about Lena knowing Kara was Supergirl.

Lena hadn’t planned on telling anyone, not that they seemed to care about that, because she was a Luthor, clearly she was evil and would toss Kara to the dogs.

They weren’t allowed up, unless they had a warrant, and if they did, they would be met with her and her army of lawyers. She didn’t work for the DEO, she had sworn no oath or signed a contract, they couldn’t make her do shit. If they tried to force her, she had resources and power, enough that even the DEO would have to pause before going to war with her. They had nothing on her, and she had everything on them. That was probably the only reason she hadn’t been kidnapped and thrown into a little black box.

She made a mental note to update Vulko on her current situation with National City’s darling, and the organisation she worked with, just in case something were to happen. She wondered how an Atlantean would fare against a Kryptonian, not equally, surely, but their strength must have some sort of comparison, because Aquaman is capable of incredible feats of prowess, but his seemed to be more natural and credible than the god-like powers of the Kryptonian’s.

Her security nodded cordially to her as she entered the building and she was deep in thought, trying to imprint the letters of the Atlantean alphabet and their English equivalent into her mind. She would play her recording of Vulko sounding out the characters before she went to bed, and practice a little on the way home. Once she set her mind to something, she set her mind to it, and the articulation seemed to be manageable, she estimated she would have a basic grasp of the language in several weeks, proficiency within a month and a half and almost native fluency within several months. She was one of the greatest minds of the era for a reason.

She considered her schedule as she rose in the elevator, greeting her employees with a friendly nod, looking for free time to practice. She could listen to the language while showering and getting ready for her day, as well as repeating phrases and words, as well as on the way to work and in hew few recess periods. She could practice before bed, the written language, and try reading a little in bed. All in all she’d likely manage four or five hours of study each day, and she could work with that. When Vulko returned she could discuss lessons with him.

Exiting the elevator she hesitated. Jess was at her desk and had risen immediately. Lena had been reluctant to let Jess return to being her highly capable assistant, but Jess had insisted and Lena had been helpless to deny her. Lena could handle L-Corp, especially as CATCO no longer had her interest and she had let James run it as he had seen fit, without her interference. Cat would have it back soon enough.

“Miss Luthor!” Jess looked frazzled and Lena tensed, looking for a threat but unable to find one. She had doubled her security, and they were all former elite soldiers, a private company that employed vet’s from various military branches. Lena’s current security detail, the one who had followed her to the park and kept an eye on her, consisted of two former Marine’s, a French Foreign Legion, and S.A.S soldier. Her other security had a mixture of the three, but also had a very big Russian, a tiny Australian woman, and a Seal. Her commander was some dark-skinned, tattooed man from New Zealand with a quick smile and a lexicon Lena frequently didn’t understand, though the Australian seemed to.

“Jess? What is it?”

“I she- well, - I tried but I mean- how do you say no to Miss Grant?”

“Cat is here?” Lena asked, arching a brow and looking down to where her office was.

Jess nodded and she looked torn and Lena felt her ire rise.

Jess knew better than to let anyone into her office without her permission and she considered a firm reprimand, but… Jess looked guilty enough, if the way she was clutching her table with white knuckled fingers betrayed her, and Cat Grant was a force of nature.

“And you informed her I was out and would be returning shortly?”

Jess nodded. “Of course, Miss Luthor,” she hurriedly explained. “She insisted on waiting. I had to send Cheryl for a coffee, though I do think Miss Grant tossed it out immediately because it was too cold.”

“And yet you still let her in my office?” Lena wasn’t someone who believed in unnecessarily berating employees the way Cat seemed to, but Jess knew better than to let someone into her office uninvited, even if that someone was Cat Grant.

Jess straightened, swallowing. “She had a federal agent with her… and Supergirl…”

Lena’s back tightened and she could feel a snarl building in her throat. That simply would _not_ do.

“Why are they here?” She enquired and strode towards her office, eyes blazing, even as her heart summersaulted.

Jess looked apologetic as she hurried after Lena. “Agent Danvers said something about National Security.”

Lena growled.

“Have security on stand-by,” she ordered in a dangerous rumble and saw Jess’ eyes go wide before she ducked her head and scurried to obey.

Lena didn’t have time for this, and even if it was for something important, she did not appreciate being bullied in her own building, and she would not accept someone, not even Supergirl, bullying her employees. It was Lena they had a problem with, and they would be dealing with her.

She was a little more indestructible than she had been last time she had a confrontation with the DEO and Supergirl, and she was currently not in the mood to be blackmailed, or whatever it was they were after, in her own office.

She wrenched her door open and took a quick moment to glance over the scene; Cat flicking through a magazine while Alex was over at her bookshelf and Kara was looking out over her balcony, before speaking, letting her fury leak into her voice.

“Despite the fact my assistant has informed you that I am occupied, you have bullied your way into my office which is something that I don’t appreciate.”

As she strode over to her bag rack she continued, speaking to the room at large and in as dismissive tone as she could. “You can leave now, or I can call security to help you find your way down to the lobby. If you wish to speak with me in the future, you can make an appointment with my secretary or if I have need to contact you I am perfectly capable of doing so. “

She spun around to Alex, suspecting that Kara’s sister was the driving force of why Supergirl and an Agent of the DEO were currently in her office. She temporarily ignored Cat’s shrewd gaze flicking between them all and took a steadying breath. As angry as she was, as hurt as she was, it would not do her well to lose her composure in front of Cat Grant, especially as she was going to sell the woman CATCO.

“However, I now have a meeting for which I certainly do not require your presence. You may return to the waiting room and I will consider seeing you when I am available.”

“Well,” Cat Grant said, tossing the magazine, an edition of CATCO, onto the coffee table. “I do believe that is my cue.”

Lena took a moment to smile over at Cat, even as her heart raced and she wondered if she could offer the former CEO a drunk under the guise of getting her own. “Hello Miss Grant, thank you for agreeing to see me.”

“Of course,” Cat said smoothly and glided across the floor to drape herself casually before Lena’s desk, somehow managing to make Lena feel as though she were on the opposite side, and Cat were the CEO she was visiting.

“I was intrigued to receive your message, Lena.”

Lean didn’t miss the lack of respect in Cat’s address, but ignored it. She could go toe-to-toe with Cat Grant if need be, she just didn’t have the energy right now, and had more pressing matters to deal with.

She could feel Kara behind her, probably gazing at her back with earnest, puppy eyes and she felt her spine tighten in response.

“Miss Luthor. I think-“

“No,” Lena cut across Alex’s excuses with a sharp tone. “I don’t think so, Agent Danvers. If you want to speak with me, you can make an appointment with my secretary.” She placed her palms down on her table and leant forward, speaking quietly to Alex, making her position clear.

“The same can be said for you, _Supergirl_.” Lena pointedly didn’t even tilt her head in Kara’s direction, to do so would acknowledge she was there, and Lena couldn’t bear to see the S crest on her best friends, -former best friends?- chest.

“Seeing as you haven’t immediately demanded my help, I can only conclude that you are here for some other, less….” She narrowed her eyes at Alex, who was breaking her stony façade to glare at her…” important reason and you can wait outside. I have an appointment that is now running,” she glanced down at her screen, “three minutes late.”

“We’ll wait outside,” Supergirl said behind her and Lena clenched her jaw as she felt movement and saw it from the corner of her eye as Kara approached Alex.

“We’re sorry to disturb you,” Kara said, and she, at least, sounded sincere, but Lena didn’t soften her heart to the wounded blue eyes which glanced her way. Kara had sounded sincere when she had said she was Lena’s friend too, and look at how that turned out.

Alex was still glaring at Lena, hand resting near her fire-arm in a way that Lena knew was supposed to intimidate her, but Lena had faced down worse than Alex Danvers, and didn’t bat an eye.

“Come on, Agent,” Kara said and had to tug Alex away.

“Fine,” Alex bit out. “We’ll wait,” she snarled and pulled out of Kara’s hold and stalked across Lena’s office towards the exit.

“Phew,” Cat said and flapped her hand near her head. “I nearly thought I was surrounded by testosterone. All that playing with guns.”

Lena straightened.

“While I disagree with her behaviour on occasion, Agent Danvers is proficient and accomplished public servant, and I do not appreciate what you are implying, Cat. This is not the 50’s, women are more than capable of handling traditionally male dominated roles.”

Cat merely lifted a brow and pressed her fingers into her skirt.

“Why am I here, Lena?”

Lena raised a finger to pause the conversation, and Cat leant back in astonished ire as she pressed a few buttons.

“Sorry,” Lena said and rolled her chair under the desk. “Privacy steps.”

She only had to incline her head in the direction of the Super outside for Cat to understand.

“Lead-lined walls?”

Lena smiled and inclined her head, “And a high pitched, low volume speaker. She can’t see or hear anything.”

Cat smiled a very pleased smile, familiar with her name-sake.

“Well,” she ducked her head. “Is that scotch or are you drinking water?”

Lena smiled and rose over to her decanter and poured both herself and Cat a drink.

“I want to sell you back CATCO,” Lena declared as she strode back to the desk, bringing the bottle with her and making their meeting official. She had a feeling that Cat already knew, but well, getting it out in the open was a good idea.

“Why would you want that?” Cat asked accepting the drink and leaning back in her chair.

“Well,” Lena retook her seat. “After the president’s dismissal I thought you may want to come back to your Empire. Besides,” Lena tilted her head back and drank the glass. “CATCO isn’t performing the way it used to. I’m losing money and frankly,” Lena poured herself another few fingers. “Media isn’t my…expertise.”

Cat sipped her whiskey, eyeing her over the top of the glass. 

“You’re a very intelligent woman.”

Lena eyed Cat from beneath her lashes, pointedly letting her silence speak for her. Her intelligence was well documented. What was Cat getting at?

“I’m surprised _you_ haven’t picked up on how it all works.”

There was bite to her words, a hint of challenge in her tone, and Lena narrowed her eyes.

“I prefer to stick to the boundaries of science and truth, where there can be no lies or smoke-screens.”

Cat hesitated and slowly lowered her glass.

“You know,” she said finally, after a few long moments staring at Lena.

“I know a lot of things,” Lena replied, beginnings of a frown prickling at her brow.

“No, no, no, no,” Cat shook her head slightly, leaning forward and placing her glass on the table, flicking her fingers for a refill.

“You _know_.” There was a pregnant hesitation as Lena lifted her glass to her lips after re-filling both of their glasses. Two fingers worth.

Lena’s lip twitched but she said nothing, keeping her gaze on Cat. Was Cat implying what she thought she was implying.

“About Kara.”

Lena felt her features shut down immediately. If Cat knew what she was suggesting she knew and Lena suspected she knew, then why in the world had she not exposed Kara already?

Lena remained quiet.

“She’s special isn’t she,” Cat said, wetting her lips and settling back in her chair. “So bright and bubbly after such loss.”

“A lot of people have had loss in their lives. Its nothing major.”

Cat smiled at Lena, and it wasn’t one of her false smiles, but an understanding one, a smile that spoke of a shared revelation.

“I didn’t see her at first,” Cat said, staring at the whiskey in her glass and Lena’s heart was thumping around stupidly in her chest, nerves or rage or anxiety. A mixture of all three perhaps.

“But once you know…. You can’t un-see it, can you?”

Cat was speaking idly to her glass as Lena sat frozen in her chair. “Can’t unseen her kindness, her strength, her belief in everyone. She’s a hero.”

“She doesn’t need to be special to be a hero,” Lena shot back, still cautious of admitting anything, and especially to the Queen of All Media.

“Ah, but she is, isn’t she? And that is why you are selling CATCO back to me.”

Lena tilted her head back and finished the rest of her glass and savoured the burn of it.

“Enough,” she said shortly, “Do you want to buy CATCO or not?”

Cat raised her glass in agreement and Lena opened her drawer to set a folder on the table.

“The contract my lawyers drew, it was sent to your lawyers and approved. If you sign, CATCO will be yours by morning.”

She slid it across the table to Cat and set another box on the table. It was a business pen, one of those black and silver fountain pens and the ink well followed a few moments later.

Lena was willing to allow Cat the time to look it over, and Cat didn’t disappoint, checking over every word while Lena idly checked her emails and quietly went about arranging some things for Vulko. She didn’t expect, or couldn’t expect, the Atlantean’s to pay for Vulko’s time here, or arrange for his food and accommodation or clothing.

She’d give Vulko her proposal later, she didn’t expect him to teach her without payment. That wasn’t how the world worked.

She was drawn from her musings as Cat popped the top off the ink-well and dipped the fountain pen into it. A few loops later and Cat Grant had reclaimed CATCO and Lena would have her copy set with her lawyers, and they would settle it all.

Lena felt a weight off her shoulders and lifted her glass in Cat’s direction before drinking the rest of her toast.

Her increased biology meant she didn’t get drunk on normal alcohol, or at least not as fast as she used to.

“Cheers.”

Cat poured herself a drink and lifted her own glass, “Cheers.”

“Now,” Cat said after swallowing her whiskey. “How did you find out?”

“Find out what?”

Cat rolled her eyes.

“Lets cut the bullshit. Kara is Supergirl,” Cat lifted a brow and then took another drink, “and that is why you can’t stand to own CATCO anymore, and why my former assistant is flying around looking like a kicked puppy.” 

Lena glanced at her empty glass, letting Cat’s words roll over in her mind before she sat it on the desk.

“We are done here,” she informed Cat, swallowing and nodding to the door.

Cat met her eyes a long moment, until Lena couldn’t hold them anymore, and then sighed.

“When you’re willing to talk,” she said, rising to her feet and taking her own copy of the contract, “give me a call. We’ll talk and drink copious amounts of Vodka.”

Lena watched her rise with wide eyes, the almost motherly smile Cat shot her was shocking and made her stomach twist.

“Its good to see you, Lena Luthor.” Her Gucci bag was shrugged over her shoulder casually. “I hope we can talk in the future.”

Lena nodded slowly. She couldn’t trust Cat, Cat was The Queen of All Media, she could sniff out a story on the same skill as Lois Lane, but. But Cat had kept Kara’s secret, and it would be the biggest news to hit National City, and the World, and would make sales skyrocket. Cat Grant’s assistant turned Ace Reporter was National City’s Super Darling in blue and red.

It would break the internet, literally.

But Cat hadn’t told anyone. Nor would Lena, but that wasn’t the point.

Cat knew, and wasn’t talking…and she hadn’t been tossed in a cell, so, either they didn’t know she knew, or didn’t think she was a threat.

Either way, Lena wasn’t impressed.

“It is good to have you back in National City, Miss Grant,” Lena smiled in farewell and watched as her blonde hair disappeared around the door.

Lena sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Now she didn’t have to deal with the headache that was CATCO anymore, and be reminded, daily, of how stupid she had been. Kara had gotten close to her, had pushed their friendship, all to get the inside scoop on the new Luthor in town. Lena had fallen for it, hook, line and sinker, and had been played in a way she had never been played before. All by a Super.

The pain and heartbreak and betrayal were almost all encompassing, and James’ betrayal had only been the icing on the cake. Superman’s best friend, Kara’s ex-boyfriend, suddenly interested in her? No, she had been a fool, too weak and trusting and now she was suffering for it.

The door opening abruptly caught her attention and she folded her contract away as Alex strode across to her desk and placed her hands on it. Kara was hot on her heels, but looked as though she wanted to be anywhere but here.

“Miss Luthor,-“

Lena cut Alex off with a raised index finger and pressed the speaker button on her desk.

“Jess, what is my schedule for the afternoon?’

Her secretaries reply came a few moments later. ‘_You are free until your eleven am tomorrow, Miss Luthor_.’

“Thank you, Jess,” Lena settled back in her chair and eyed the two women in her office.

“I’m terribly sorry, Agent Danvers. Supergirl,” she nodded politely. “But I appear to have a full schedule. Perhaps you can fit in a meeting with me some-time next week?”

“Cut the shit, Lena,” Alex said and Lena eyed her carefully, not breaking her composure in the slightest. While Alex’s badass secret agent routine was impressive, Lena had been raised by Lillian Luthor, and Alex had nothing on her mother.

“Lena.”

Lena tensed. That was the first time she had been in the same room as Kara since she had found out the truth, since the façade had fallen away, and she wasn’t interested in excuses.

“What is it, Supergirl?” she tilted her head to the side, coldly eyeing the woman she now recognised as her best friend in the symbol and colours that had ruined Lena’s life.

“I’m a busy woman and my time isn’t just for anyone. If you want to speak to me, you can make an appointment with Jess.”

“Lena, please,” Kara tried again, and Lena couldn’t look at her, couldn’t see the tears in her eyes, the pain on her face, see it all above that fucking ‘S’ crest.

“You need to sign this,” Alex said and pulled a file out of her, actually Lena wasn’t sure where she had been keeping it, she hadn’t seen a briefcase or anything.

“We can do it here or we can do it at the DEO.”

Lena met Alex’s eyes a moment before letting her glance flicker over the file. It was several inches thick and had the eagle logo of the DEO.

Lena leant back in her chair and lifted her shoulder.

“No.”

Alex blinked and her body recoiled a little in shock. “No? What do you mean, no?”

“Am I not speaking English?” Lena asked and lifted a brow, letting a hint of sass enter her tone.

“No,” Lena enunciated clearly, slowly, as though speaking to a child. “I can give the you dictionary definition if you like?”

Alex’s fists banged on the table. “You will sign it, or-“

“Or else, what?” Lena slowly stood, letting her voice darken. She was tired. Tired of being treated like the bad guy when she hadn’t done anything, when Kara had been the one to come after her, when Lena had just wanted to be left alone, to build her company again and maybe, just maybe, earn something nice and quiet.

“You’ll cart me away with a bag over my head and lock me up?” She asked innocently, lips curling to betray the rage on her face and in her heart. “Never to see the light of day?”

She let her words linger a moment. “I’d like to see you try.” She leant forward, palms down on her desk, and stared directly into Alex’s eyes.

“Enough, Alex,” Kara said, breaking the stare down. “She doesn’t have to sign anything.”

“Kar-“

“-No, Alex,” Kara shook her head and Lena could see the movement of blonde hair from the corner of her eye, still engaged in her thousand yard stare with Agent Danvers.

“Can we just-leave her be, please? I trust her.”

Alex’s eyes were alight with fury, but with Kara on Lena’s side, as well as her security on standby-not that they would do much against Supergirl, but it was the principle of it. The Media would love to report L-Corp security trying to forcibly remove an agent and Supergirl from Lena’s office, and Lena would make sure the footage was ‘leaked’ so that they couldn’t put their own spin on things.

“Fine,” Alex scowled and pulled away and Lena allowed a small satisfied twitch of her lip, which Alex caught and deepened her glare.

“But I’ll be back. If you hurt my sister-“

“Bring a warrant and lawyer with you next time, Agent Danvers,” Lena said pleasantly, letting her smugness leak through in her voice and face. “And _do_ make an appointment.”

She opened her computer and placed her palm on the scanner which would allow her access.

“Do have a nice day. I’m sure you can see yourself out, but if you do get lost, I can have security show you the way.”

Alex looked angry but she was in Check, and unfortunately for her, she was playing against one of the best Chess players in the world. She had no choice.

The two instead walked towards the balcony and opened the door. Lena paid them no attention as Alex and Kara had a hissed conversation before Kara picked Alex up and away they flew.

Lena went back to work.


	5. Chapter 5

The sand was cold beneath her feet and water cascaded from her body and left little indents around her as she emerged from the beach.

“_You are improving rapidly_,” Vulko said as he coughed a little, clearing his throat of the sea-water. Lena had already hacked her own lung-full up and rubbed her eyes a little, blinking away the water.

“_Not fast enough_,” she replied, voice curling around the increasingly familiar words.

It had been three months since she had learnt the most life-changing information to ever be shared in the history of the world and she was still struggling to adapt to her new, or rather her old, life.

Purposely drowning herself was as scary as it had been the first time, and she didn’t think it would ever get easier, no matter what Vulko said. Letting water enter her lungs went against every instinct she had thought she had, but… her Atlantean side didn’t fight it, it was just her human side that did. Which, it was what it was.

She and Vulko retreated out the coast, a half hours drive from National City to a private beach, with its own cove so no one but the property occupants could reach, and estate which Lena had rented for the time being.

On the drive out there, because Vulko and Lena were reluctant to expose themselves by running there, he would test her on language, and they would hold meaningless conversations as Lena learnt and improved upon her lexicon.

Once there he would take her out to the beach, dress himself in traditional garments, and take her into the ocean.

Lena had seen a lot, more of the ocean than she had thought were possible, and she knew she still had more to learn, more to see, more to understand. Today they had gone back to Atlantis, a family dinner, of which Lena had been surprised to receive an invite, and even more apprehensive to attend, but it had gone well, better than most of her prior family dinners, actually.

Arthur was funny, a man of humour and life and he was…full of vigour for it all. Mera was unfamiliar with the surface world as Lena was of the sea, though they were both learning and the idea was suggested that the two of them teach each other, though Lena was uncomfortable with the idea and Atlanna seemed to pick up on it, for she instructed Vulko to remain her tutor. Atlanna was…. She told her stories of her mother and showed her the Atlantean equivalent of portraits, entire stone statues dedicated to her mother as a child.

It had been….hard… for her to compartmentalise, her mother, immortalised in stone, and she had needed time alone afterward. Atlanna had shown her the Queen’s Garden’s, a space full of ocean life, glowing in colours Lena had never seen in real life, only in film or fantasy, and she had quietly told her that each of them had a use.

Lena had learnt a lot in that garden under the sea, breathing water as easily as one would breath air, and she had even allowed the Queen Mother to braid a few into her hair, and they glowed a bright luminescent blue, a flower crown, and the queen had wiped away tears before directing her to her chambers to dress for the meal.

The Atlanteans, she had learnt, were from a time when man was just finding his feet, and their clothing and traditions both reflected, and didn’t, that.

Her clothing was, well, traditional in the sense that Lena had never seen a mix like it. It was some sort of Tolkien work, though she had only seen posters and people in the streets, and some form of medieval armour. That she was more familiar with, she knew sword play, after all.

The guards were dressed for war at all times, helms and cloaks and metal armour, and the royals and nobility, when not dressed for war, wore long and flowing robes, or tight dresses. Their colours were all water tones, blues and greens and a few silvers, all colours of the ocean, and many had shimmering accents or scaled highlights. They were sea people, and wore it with pride.

She felt out of place in her green robes, but the look of…wonder and joy on Atlanna’s face had been worth the mediocre discomfort, as had the soft smile Arthur had given her across the table.

He was a very cool dude, and she was interested in getting to know him better, especially as he was like her, a half-breed. He had promised to give her distance, and when she was ready, talk to her about it all.

She was quite happy with Vulko for the moment, but she said she’d contact him later, and they vowed to have a drinking competition later- the fool thought he could out drink her, she’d show him.

As a gift the Atlantean’s had put on a show, dancing and singing with spectacular colours and underwater feats that Lena quietly longed to try, and they told myths and legends, how Atlantis was founded and how they were sunk to the sea, the splitting of the Kingdom’s and even, a much more recent battle, where Arthur fought his brother for the throne and future.

Dawn was breaking by the time they returned to the surface, but Lena didn’t mind. Her mind was full of colour.

“I have to go to work,” she said as she walked up the beach, following the dimly lit path towards the house. She’d have a shower, get changed, and then continue with her day.

“Of course,” Vulko said as he strode behind her.

Lena was quiet a few moments. “Do all Atlantean’s know how to fight?”

Vulko was silent a long while, and he did this a lot with her questions, thinking them through before answering. Lena knew he was trying to find her angle, the ‘why’ of the question she had asked, so that he could better answer them and teach her.

“The nobility and royalty do, yes,” he answered finally, as the lights from the house came into view, dull and warm and nothing like the amber glow of the sun in the distance. “Citizens from the Houses can choose the warrior path, it is an honourable one, but-“

“But Royalty is expected to, right?”

“Yes, Highness,” Vulko said and Lena was glad she wasn’t facing him as she winced.

He rarely called her that now, knowing how it bothered her, but when he did it was to make some sort of point Lena wasn’t aware of, or because they were in formal situations.

They walked in silence up to the house, and Lena had started to notice how she didn’t feel the cold as she used to, that her night vision was beyond extraordinary, and that she had greater stamina, speed, and strength than she ever had. She suspected it was because of her exposure to the ocean, and now she had a taste she didn’t think she could ever go back, the thought of it made something inside her wail.

“I don’t think I can be this…. Princess of Atlantis,” she confessed quietly before the doorway to her room, and Vulko paused before his own room. “I’m not… her. I’m just not, and I can’t ever be.”

She didn’t wait for a response, even if Vulko had one.

Showering she got ready for her day and when she exited, Vulko was standing by the pathway back to the ocean, and she nodded at him, hearing his message, before unlocking her car.

Her tutor’s back disappeared over the sand and she felt an odd ache for his absence, was this it then?

Maybe it was for the best. Lena Luthor didn’t deserve their kindness and love, that was all for a girl who died long ago.

~*~

“Excuse me, Miss,” Jess scurried from behind her desk and moved to halt the tall and toned woman striding towards Lena’s office.

“Miss Luthor is busy. You’ll have to make an appointment.”

The woman had dark hair pinned above her head, and wore a tight white dress with long sleeves. When she turned Jess caught the gold around her neck and winking at her ears. Her breath left her in a gush.

“Oh, I only need a minute of her time. I promise,” the woman said, and her voice was low and husky for a woman, ridiculously sexy and Jess swallowed harshly, blinking back her professionalism.

“You’ll have to make an appointment for business,” she squeaked out, and had to clasp her knees together when the woman smiled.

“I’m not here for business.”

Jess gaped after her as she winked slowly, and continued to stride, glide, pace towards Lena’s office, leaving the poor now sexually confused secretary blinking in hallway.

“Jess,” Lena Luthor didn’t glance up from her paper-work. “I asked to not be disturbed.”

“Well,” Lena’s head snapped up to gape at her visitor. “As I informed your secretary, I am not here for business.”

Lena tensed and behind her the secretary was dialling security.

“Your cousin asked if I’d speak with you.”

Lena halted, part way out of her chair and stared over at the inhumanly beautiful woman who had smoothly entered her office.

“Miss Luthor-“

“It’s all right, Jess,” she lifted her hand and felt a moment of Deja-vu. “Could you please cancel the rest of my afternoon?”

Jess nodded, clutching her tablet to her with wide eyes, looking between the two women in suspicion, but did as she was asked.

“Shall I fetch your usual from _Aroma’s_? The Caesar and pine nuts?”

Lena let her lips lift into a smile. Few people knew she loathed nuts, unless they were covered in chocolate, and certainly wouldn’t have them with a salad. It was a code phrase. If Lena answered affirmative the room would go into lockdown and knock-out gas would flood it, incapacitating the occupants within moments, and then security would come charging in.

“No, thank you, Jess. That’ll be all.”

Jess did as instructed, code phrase passing by and ducked back into the hallway. What was it with beautiful women trying to barge their way into Miss Luthor’s office? And what cousin? Lena didn’t have any family left.

She pressed close to the door as it closed behind the beautiful stranger.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” Lena was saying faintly, and Jess could imagine her rising to her feet, hand out stretched for a hand-shake. “You know my name but I don’t know yours.”

Jess was paid well, and rewarded for her loyalty, and Lena was, as far as bosses went, a great boss. She was kind and fair and kept her demands to a reasonable minimum, so it was with great reluctance she stopped spying on her boss. Lena appeared to be okay with the interruption to her day, and even the mention of some sort of cousin. As she walked away she heard the stranger reply, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lena. I am Diana Prince.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun, dun dun! ;) So, I wrote a semi-sequel. I think I'll call them side-stories.... it's only, like, 12k..... :D


	6. Chapter 6

Lena calmly eyed the woman opposite her who had her eyes partially closed as she sampled an expensive bottle of red at National City’s Michigan Star restaurant, even as her heart rate hadn’t steadied since Diana had walked into her office.

Diana had let her hair down, braided it actually, down her head and back, and had slipped into something a little less dressy than the white sleeve dress she had worn to Lena’s office. She looked younger and softer in black, a shirt and then a half leather jacket, with very _tight_ black leather pants and boots, and Lena felt a little over dressed in her own blouse and dress pants and heels, even though they were at a five-star restaurant.

“How do you know my cousin?”

Diana, after introducing herself, had asked Lena to spend the rest of the day with her. A confused Lena had fallen prey to a pretty smile and a gentle touch, and so the two had…wandered the city almost aimlessly, Lena’s bodyguards a distance behind them, though Diana had lifted a brow at seeing them.

They had walked through the park for what felt like miles, and Lena’s feet had ached by the time they had sat down, on the same bench she had Vulko had sat earlier. Diana had asked her questions, so many questions, while Lena hadn’t been able to get anything more than the woman’s name out of her, Diana had merely said that she was here for Lena, and would explain everything in time.

Lena told her so many things, things she would have thought mundane but things only one other person had ever deemed to know, and that had raised Lena’s guard, but Diana had some way of getting under it, and Diana just listened. She was an excellent listener, asking questions that prompted more elaborate responses and if Lena didn’t know any better she would have sworn she was being interviewed for something, though Diana had promised that Arthur had sent her.

Lena would get answers though, even though Diana was slippery.

“We work together.”

And that was the other thing. Her accent was…. Unusual. It was beautiful in a soft, mannered way, nothing quite like any other accent, and when Lena had ordered them her favourite wine, with Diana’s approval, pronouncing the French perfectly, Diana had asked, sounding delighted, if she were fluent.

The resulting smile had been…something….

“He’s never mentioned you,” Lena said, taking a sip of her own wine, guard up after having given up what seemed like her entire soul to a stranger. The only person she had ever been so open with had been Kara and look at how that had turned out, so she was wary, even if this woman had been sent by Arthur.

After her swim and comments to Vulko a little over a week ago, she hadn’t expected to hear back from the Atlantean’s, let alone have Vulko return to her, or even Arthur sending someone to talk to her, but Vulko had been waiting outside her apartment for her when she returned home. He made it clear that he would leave if she wanted, but that Arthur had asked a friend to come to see her, a woman he trusted and admired, and would Lena be willing to hear her out?

Lena had….nt wanted to give up just yet, and that Arthur hadn’t given up on her was enough to get her to agree. Vulko still took her for her lessons, but every day that went by without a visitor made her anxious and nervous. Who would Arthur send to speak to her? Someone from his past? Another Atlantean who had no idea what she was going through?

“I can’t imagine he has,” Diana replied, lowering her glass and nodding to the waiter. “You don’t speak with him much.”

The waiter poured her glass and almost gave a bow as he said he’d return momentarily for their order.

Lena’s eyes narrowed. “I agreed to hear you out,” she said carefully, irked with how open she had been all afternoon when this woman was meant to speak to her. “But so far all you’ve done is ask questions and expect me to answer them. You haven’t even answered mine.”

There was wisdom and loss in Diana’s eyes as she nodded slowly.

“You’re right, and I am sorry,” she lifted her glass once in a toast and Lena swallowed her heart, was she finally going to get some answers?

“I needed to get to know you first.”

Lena frowned. “If you were the one meant to talk to me, why did I do all the talking?”

“I had to know if I could trust you. I wanted to know the person you are, not the person you, and others, think you are.”

Lena met her gaze a long moment and sat her wine back on the table. She dug in her wallet for a few bills and left them under the glass as she rose to her feet.

She had had enough.

“Don’t bother,” she snarled in a low voice, still aware of the eyes always on her. “Go back to where you came from and don’t bother me again. You can tell Arthur I don’t want it. I don’t want any of it.”

Diana had an immovable expression on her face and Lena felt almost like a chastened child as she collected her bag and strode quickly from the restaurant.

Arthur could keep his heritage and people and culture. She wasn’t Athena of Atlantis, she was Lena Luthor, that was never going to change, and no amount of her wishing on it would change that. She couldn’t forget it. The world couldn’t let her forget it. What other choice did she have?

Blinking back her tears she marched from the restaurant, hesitated outside and then picked a direction to stride off down. Her bodyguards were around her, and she allowed them for a few moments before dismissing them, raising her voice in the middle of the street to send them away, affectively firing them, and then walked onward between the people and her tears. There was a pressure building in her chest, a familiar and heavy one, but she panted through it. She was stronger than this, she would not break.

She walked for a long time, uncaring of where she was going or who was seeing her, after all, all they could see was the Luthor in their midst, a shark, a snake in the grass. An enemy.

Eventually the pressure in her chest grew too much and she leant against a brick wall, the front entrance of a fashion shop towards the lower end of town, which was surprisingly still open, and crouched with her back against it, keeping her centred.

Resting her forehead on her palms she counted, trying to sync her heartbeat with her breaths, even as it felt like she couldn’t bless her lungs with any form of air. She idly wondered if she would be able to breathe if she plunged her head into the river she could hear near her.

A warm presence at her side guided her back to herself, calm words and a gentle touch and she peered through her arms to see her Samaritan and groaned.

“I am familiar with not knowing who you are, Lena Luthor,” Diana Prince said, and she somehow looked like a goddess with her long limbs stretched out on the pavement, head resting against the brick as she gazed up towards the slightly starry skies. Lena was certain she looked a mess.

Just another failure to her near endless list.

“Not like this,” she whispered and followed Diana’s gaze to look at the stars. There were only a few of them, and the night was starting to bite but she ignored it. Diana was warm, almost too warm next to her.

“Athena-“

“That is not my name!” Lena snarled and winced as her head collided with some unseen brick as she turned around to glare at the woman next to her.

“It is,” Diana said calmly, softly, and she hadn’t turned her gaze off the stars.

“I’m not this Athena,” Lena protested desperately. Why couldn’t everyone see that? She had no connection to her birth mother, only half forgotten memories and one picture, and now she was supposed to be a Princess? Of an entirely unfamiliar culture, and she had superpowers on top of that?

She wasn’t Athena, she was Lena. Lena Luthor, and she couldn’t forget that, the world wouldn’t let her forget that even if she wanted them to.

“You can’t hide from who you are, Athena,” Diana replied, and she was speaking as though she wasn’t aware of Lena bristling next to her, of the rage and loss and confusion seizing Lena’s heart with every word. “You are the daughter of Princess Alanna of Atlantis, just as I am the daughter of Queen Hippolyta of Themyscira.”

Lena would later swear that the very air around her had frozen. Diana…Prince..ess of Themyscira….works with Arthur….

Diana Prince, or Wonder Woman as she was known to the world, finally turned her eyes off the sky and looked at Lena.

“But…that is not all who I am, and I am here to tell you that it is okay to not know who you are.”

Lena could only gape at the literal goddess sitting on the dirty and gum tainted concrete next to her.

“Come, Lena,” Diana rose fluidly to her feet and held out a hand for Lena.

Bemused and confused and so utterly lost Lena had no choice but to obey, and the hand that guided her to her feet was warm and callused and gentle, hiding its considerable strength.

“Why?”

Lena knew several languages, more than she could count on her hands, but only one seemed to come out.

Arthur, Aquaman, her cousin, had asked Diana, Wonder Woman, to come and help her, like she was special, like she deserved it, like she mattered. What could he possibly, and what could Diana, possibly get from this? It all had to be a joke. Lena wasn’t, Lena couldn’t… she couldn’t… she wasn’t…

“Shhhhsh,” Diana pulled her into a hug, the first Lena had, had since Queen Atlanna had embraced her as her niece, and Lena sunk into the warmth and comfort like someone coming home.

Lena didn’t cry, she knew better than to cry, and let alone to do so in public, but she did hide her face in Dianna’s jacket and the cool leather was a comfort.

With a gentleness hiding her strength Diana kept her close and she was both warm and soft and strong, kind of like Kara. The thought made her tense and Diana released her immediately, bringing her palms up to cup both cheeks.

“Come. I think you need a drink,” Diana glanced around and paused at the shop window. “But first….”

Lena could do nothing but follow as she was dragged along behind one of the most powerful beings in the world and taken on an impromptu shopping trip.

“You can’t go out dancing like that,” Diana had commented once, before gently guiding her in the direction of the changing stalls. She stood inside a little lost and then a few moments later and Diana appeared again, clothing in her arms and stepping behind the curtain.

“Clothes off,” she demanded and was looking over her clothing while Lena tensed. She was not accustomed to stripping down in front of strangers, especially divine ones.

“Um,” and usually she was so much more eloquent.

Diana paused, perhaps sensing her hesitation or more so her lack of movement. “Well?”

And now Lena felt bad for whoever was on the receiving end of her own raised brows and hastened to obey. It was fine. She was fine. It wasn’t like she was going to get naked with one of the most gorgeous women she had ever seen, she was just… going to show a little bit of skin. Nothing major.

Heart tripping, she did as requested, demanded, and reached for her shirt.

Once she got over her self-consciousness she found she enjoyed herself. Diana was very pleasant, now she wasn’t asking all sorts of unusual and mundane questions, and she was smart and actually a lot of fun. She could see, maybe, in the future the two of them becoming, well, not friends because she was a Luthor, but acquaintances at least.

They exited the store within half an hour, and Lena was feeling lighter for it, even as she was in clothes she usually wouldn’t wear out. When she dressed to impress she usually went for a dress, low cut and clinging to her body, highlighting her generous curves, and when she knew she had to, she would restrict her diet in the week beforehand to ensure she fit it perfectly. Perfection came with a price.

But Diana had instead dressed her in tight jeans, a white singlet and a leather jacket like her own. Lena normally wouldn’t call it her style, but she couldn’t deny she looked good in it.

Clothes purchased Diana hailed a cab and told the driver the address of one of National City’s premier clubs- Onyx.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Lena commented in a low voice. Diana slung an arm over her shoulder, stretching out and tapping her fingers absently against the leather of her jacket.

“Nonsense,” Diana shook her head. “You’ve been too caught up in your own head to find yourself, and the only way we can do that is if we get you out of there.”

Lena wasn’t quite sure how her day had taken the turn it had, but she wasn’t sure she had the energy to complain, let alone resist. Diana, Wonder Woman, was a force of nature, and well, Lena was just tired and confused and lost, so let hurricane Diana drag her along.

Onyx was virtually full by the time the taxi pulled up at the line outside, and the citizens stretched down the block and even around the corner. Diana lead them straight up to the bouncer, who cast his gaze over the two of them, before letting them in without a word.

Diana took Lena’s hand, ignoring the paparazzi, and dragged her into the club. Inside the music was pounding and lights were flashing, hundreds of bodies moving together in a tangled mess on the dance-floor and Lena felt her anxiety rise. She wasn’t much for partying, or at least not like this, not since Jack had dragged her out on her birthday, fake ID’s in hand, and they had gotten wasted.

People parted for them, for Diana, as she led Lena up to the bar and the bartender seemed to gravitate towards her, ignoring customers who had been waiting longer in favour of serving the gorgeous brunette.

“What’ll you have?”

Lena just shrugged, “Scotch?”

Diana quickly ordered, a ‘sex on the beach,’ followed by a wink, and Lena’s scotch and then added several shots to the list. Resigned to how her evening was going, Lena squeezed in next to Diana and leant against the bar.

“To your health!” Diana grinned as she handed her a shot.

Lena lifted her glass in toast before tossing it back and trying not to cough at the burn. Vodka. She was more of a whiskey girl.

Diana handed her another shot, urging her to drink up, and Lena had a brief moment of ‘why not? What did she have to lose?’ before taking it and tipping her head back.

They quickly downed their shots, slapped some money on the bar, and then Diana was leading her to the dance floor, hand warm in her own and body confident and powerful behind her.

Then it was just flashes. Flashes of music, vodka, heat, bodies around her. Diana offering her a sip of something from a small flask and then more music, dancing, and heat, heat around her, against her, in her.

And then she was cold, wind biting and body floating in strong arms before she was undressed, skin left exposed to the cool air of her bedroom as her boots and jeans were removed.

Diana was gentle as she removed her jacket and there was a shuffling before her blurry face appeared over her, haloed by the soft lights of Lena’s room.

“You’re beautiful,” she murmured, sleepy, pliant and sinking into her mattress.

“Thank you. Do you want your bra off?”

She was warm and fuzzy and tingling all over, body pulsing in a way it hadn’t for a long time, echoing to music that was no longer near.

“Mh,” she hummed and lifted her arms a little and Diana sat on the bed, reaching around her and under her shirt to unclasp the bra. Shivers awoke in her skin, rousing her body to sluggish attention as Lena’s hands were guided through her shirt and the bra was removed.

Relaxed Lena flopped back on the bed.

“What was in that flask? I’m all… tingly.”

Diana’s weight vanished from the bed, but a warm and gentle hand brushed her hair back from her face. Lena would worry about her make-up tomorrow, but… ‘make up,” she slurred.

It took a moment for her foggy brain to follow and when it did she sat up, only to watch as Diana walked back towards her, make-up removal wipes in one hand.

“Wine made by Dionysius himself,” Diana answered her earlier question, and it so wasn’t fair the woman didn’t even appear to be drunk. But, a flash came back to Lena and her eyes narrowed, though it was a little hard to focus on Diana.

“You got me drunk,” she complained and was rewarded with a laugh that must have been from an angel because-wow!

She was really happy right now and she giggled a little. Happy and horny, if her body’s alerts were to be judged.

“I did,” Diana commented and the wipes were cold and wet on her face and she curled away from them, only to have her head steadied by a gentle pressure. “Lie still. I want to get this off.”

A jolt of something fired through her blood stream and settled low, low and hard with a pulse. “Mh too tired to move,” Lena replied closing her eyes, fairly certain she was slurring her words but unable to care. “You’ll have to sit on my face.”

There was a moments pause, a silence and stillness coming over the room, and then Diana was stroking her cheek lightly.

It made Lena shiver and she slowly opened her eyes, squinting up at the woman leaning over her.

“Not while you’re drunk, Dear One.”

Sinking back into her mattress with a sigh she agreed with the decision, or at least tried too, she was being welcomed by a warm embrace.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Stay,” Lena asked, the warm and soft pressure falling away.

It was gone and she spoke out to the room.

“Everyone leaves,” Lena whispered, telling the dark room her hidden truth. “They just…leave me… nothing I do makes them stay.”

The darkness didn’t answer and she wiped away the burning in her eyes and at the back of her throat.

“I’m not worth it, am I?”

Not receiving an answer she curled into her pillow, unaware of the weight settling on the bed, the woman slowly removing her boots, pants and bra before laying carefully down behind her, on top of the covers but beneath a blanket.

She wasn’t aware of the arms reaching out, giving her something to curl in to, and she didn’t remember turning around and seeking out Diana’s embrace as sleep finally claimed her.

There was nothing but her tears and darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me indulge, I deserve it :D


	7. Chapter 7

Lena came around slowly, head thumping and stomach rolling and a cool hand on her forehead guided her to water and Advil, and soon she was falling back into the waves of oblivion.

When she woke next, she could hear the low hum of her television in the distance and, judging by the sun leaking through her curtains, it was already far beyond her usual rising time, dawn.

Sitting up slowly, she took stock of everything, pressing a hand to her head trying to remember what had happened.

She froze as she remembered…. Diana…. Drinking…. Crying…. Wonder Woman… dancing… drinking… dancing… drinking…. Oh god.

She lurched out of bed, and swallowed the cotton in her mouth, seeing a glass of water on her bed stand she took it and quickly drunk the lot. Feeling marginally better she stumbled down the hall and towards her kitchen, and the noises coming from within.

Her television was on, playing the mid-morning news, and the sound of a blender drew her attention to the kitchen.

Diana was standing, in nothing but her underwear and a t-shirt, in front of the blender and as Lena approached, she poured out two servings.

“Smoothie?”

Memories of the night before flashed through her brain, and her face turned crimson.

“I-“

“I find they help with hangovers,” Diana smiled, and her hair was down and she was haloed by the sun coming in through the balcony and Lena nearly felt her heart stop. Diana looked like a literal goddess, maybe a sun god, and Lena had to swallow and blink back her composure.

“Here,” Diana offered her the smoothie, it was red from berries and who knew what else Lena had in her cupboards and fridge, she paid other people to do that for her.

“I’m sorry about-“

Lena was cut off by a phone ringing, a oddly familiar song that Lena was certain she knew but didn’t know how.

‘…_unda da sea, unda da sea, life is betta down wer its weta…._’

“Excuse me, your cousin,” Diana said and tapped her cell phone.

Lena learnt it was on speaker when, a few moments later, Arthur’s voice was emerging from the small box, angry.

‘_I asked you to speak to my cousin, not seduce her! Damnit Diana_!’

Lena was fairly certain you could fry an egg on her face by now, but that didn’t stop the sudden flush of warmth through her body as Diana chuckled.

“I didn’t seduce her, Arthur. If I had we wouldn’t have left her bed this morning,” she gave Lena a slow wink and Lena nearly choked on her smoothie.

Arthur groaned.

_‘I thought you might be able to help her come to terms with everything_.’

“I will talk with her, Arthur,” Diana took a sip of her own drink. “You just let us girls be, alright?”

“Wait, how did he know you were with me?”

Diana suddenly looked sheepish, and over on the television the gossip section of the daily news suddenly flashed to…oh….god…

**Lena Luthor’s new Gal Pal?**

_The Luthor heiress spends the night with a gorgeous mystery brunette!_

“Oh my god,” Lena said swallowing as several pictures, some blurry and others not, followed while the anchor was speaking.

Tearing her eyes from the picture of Diana leaning towards her, drink in hand and gaze intent while Lena smiled in response, she looked at the real thing. “I am so sorry,” she said, hand flying in her anxiety.

Diana’s brow creased. “Why?”

Lena blinked. “Your…. Being associated with me?” She explained slowly, as though speaking to a child. “The press is going to try figure out who you are-“ then it hit her. What if they found out who Diana really was?

She felt the heat in her face drain. “What if they find out who you are?!”

“Oh my god,” she said to herself, clutching her hair tightly. “Its all my fault. I have to fix this. I have to-“

“You trouble yourself far too much.”

Lena froze at Diana’s proximity, the casual way she had her hands cupping her cheeks. Usually she wasn’t touched, ever, in fact, people tried to avoid touching her where possible. It was… she wasn’t sure what she should do.

“But-“

“I have a friend,” Diana said slowly, ducking her head. “A powerful friend, who has helped ensure my face is not recognised on any facial recognition software. The press won’t find anything.”

Lena was only marginally reassured and resolved to build her own program and send it out into the internet, it would out match anything Diana’s ‘friend’ could build, she was certain of it.

“Okay, Dear One?”

The soft strokes of her thumbs were very distracting and Lena could only nod.

“Good.”

Diana strode back over to the counter, where Arthur was still on the phone.

“We are fine, Arthur. You need not worry.”

Lena followed her and took a seat at the bar stool, sipping her smoothie more casually now. The cool and tangy liquid was soothing and she could almost feel her headache melting away.

‘_She’s family. Of course, I worry_.’

“I will take care of her, and your advisor is near-by.”

Arthur grumbled over the line, but was soon hanging up and Lena was left alone with Diana in contemplative silence.

“I’m sorry about last night I…shouldn’t have treated you that way and… I’m sorry I drunk too much,” Lena winced and hid her face in her smoothie glass.

Diana leant casually on her kitchen island as though she were a model. Lena had to drag her eyes up and up and _up_ to meet her eyes.

Swallowing again, mouth suddenly dry which had no correlation to the long, long, long legs that were bare in her kitchen, she winced, “I am sorry for getting drunk-“ she remembered demanding more alcohol several times, and even offering to buy the bar- “and not remembering and for-anything else I may have done.”

“Well,” Diana smiled sweetly, “you did ask me to sit on your face.”

Lena blinked. Sit on… _oh_!

Flushing hotly, she let out a groan and leant all the way forward to rest her hands on her arms, hiding her face from view. “Kill me now,” she begged of any deity as Diana laughed.

“I would have taken you up on the offer if you weren’t intoxicated.”

Diana’s words took a moment to register and when they did Lena’s skin shuddered to attention, body thrumming the familiar ache from last night.

She slowly lifted her head to see Diana smiling at her and let her head thunk back onto the bench.

“Argh. I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

There was movement, the sound of the tap turning on and off, and then, “I wouldn’t joke about something like that.”

“Why?” Lena had to know the answer. Diana was, wow, I mean, Diana was Wonder Woman! Virtually a Goddess. She embodied all that was good and kind and being…heroic! What could she possibly want with Lena?

“I observed you for a few days before I introduced myself.”

That wasn’t stalkery at all. Lena wasn’t surprised, most people did their homework, at least Diana was honest about it. Unlike some people. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so quick to trust, but something about her, Wonder Woman, had just… Lena knew, instantly, that she could be trusted…. Some might call it faith, but Lena was a scientist.

“And I had my friend get me your profile from government agencies.”

Lena grunted. That wasn’t a surprise. You could never know when the sibling of the worlds most brilliant mind decided to go crazy and kill people. Still sucked though. Idly she wondered what it said. Maybe she should hack them and have a look for herself.

“You always have a kind word to say, to employees and even strangers. You are generous and fair, and genuine. My friend said you had a good heart- he is a good judge of character, and I was able to form the same conclusion about you myself.”

“Who’s your friend?” Lena had to admit, she was a little curious now. The powerful friend managed to obtain secret government files about her and had the technology, or money to make sure Diana’s identity wasn’t caught by the public.

“Lena,” Diana rumbled in warning.

Lena gave it a few moments thought. She hadn’t actually thought that Diana would tell her who her friend was.

“Has he met me before?” There were only so many people she knew that was capable of hacking government agencies, not that it was too difficult, but Lena had an eye on any who claimed to be able to, or had succeeded. She liked to know the competition and also pay them to hack her own firewalls, just in case they were better. (They usually weren’t). He probably also had to have a lot of money, or access to money.

“He has,” Diana said slowly, eyes narrowing and Lena’s brain started to fire.

Interesting.

Batman was the obvious choice. Intelligent, with access to money, had state-of-the-art technology, and on Diana’s team.

Based in Gotham…. Well she didn’t know that many people from Gotham and when you thought of wealth and technology in Gotham only one name came to mind…. Holy shit….. Bruce Wayne…. Was…Batman…..Christ.

“Bruce Wayne is Batman,” she said numbly, setting her smoothie on the bench and staring at it. It made so much sense now. Batman always had technology that had impressed even the Luthor’s, so either he had a lot of money or could make his own, or both. Bruce Wayne fit the description admirably, and Lena had seen his physique and had been privy to a punch up between the man and Maxwell Lord years ago. Shit, she now knew the identity of each member of the Justice League, and then one.

She was definitely on a few hit lists now.

Diana was watching her carefully as Lena processed the new information and she wondered idly if her hangover would be cured if she had some more Whiskey. She needed it after the revelation she just had.

God… she was in possession of some of, if not _the_, most valuable information in the world. With a few words she could bring the entire world down around her…. She knew who BATMAN, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Superman were.

Suddenly humbled by what she knew she glanced up at Diana through her lashes.

“Why did Arthur want you to come and talk to me?”

Diana met her gaze for a long while. “Breakfast?”

Lena blinked away the haze of sleep and last vestiges of intoxication. “Huh?”

Usually she was far more eloquent, but Diana was very off putting.

“We should get breakfast. I’m hungry, aren’t you?”

Lena wasn’t much of a breakfast person, but… the thought of something greasy was abruptly very appealing.

Nodding slowly, she became aware of her own body odour. It wasn’t awful, per say, but she was aware that she had sweated the night before, and she suggested a shower beforehand.

“Need a hand?”

Lena flushed and quickly excused herself, pointing Diana in the direction of the guest shower and telling her there were sets of clothing in the guest bedroom.

She showered quickly and then dried herself and dressed, choosing casual clothing, though it wasn’t like the clothes she had gone dancing in the night before. It had been uncharacteristic of her, going out and letting lose, but everything about Diana had made her trust her, she hadn’t felt judged or watched, instead she felt cared for. Maybe it was a Superhero thing, the instant trust.

Diana was treating her as though they were friends, good friends, but it was like no effort on Lena’s behalf had been made. It was off-putting but not unwelcome. Lena usually had to make a great deal of effort in her daily interactions, she wouldn’t stoop so low as to beg for kindness, but Diana was offering it, and her trust, without any care for Lena’s last name, as though she had already decided what kind of person Lena was, and decided she could be trusted. It was….nice.

“You have a marvellous view,” Diana commented from the great open windows overlooking the city in clothing borrowed from Lena’s guestroom. They stretched down over the buildings and down to the sparkling blue of the ocean, and if you stepped out onto the balcony you could see both mountain ranges that flanked the region, as well as the glint of the next city over.

“Shall we? Do you want to go back to your hotel or?” She remembered a flash of the night before, Diana telling her she would see her home safe before going to her hotel and grimaced. Usually she could handle her liquor.

“I’m perfectly comfortable, thank you,” Diana says as she turns from the window and Lena is stuck by her beauty for a long moment.

She shook the thought off, but had a feeling Diana knew it by the suddenly shy smile she shot her.

“I hear you have a motorcycle?”

Lena groaned. “Drunk me?”

Diana chuckled. “I’m calling dibs.”

Lena trailed behind her house guest as they made their way directly down to the basement. The perks of owning the building meant she could prioritise her elevator to go where she wanted without stopping. It paid to be rich.

Lena, and the other VIP personal in the building, could store their vehicles in the basement. There were Benz’s, Audi’s, bikes, mustangs and Lena’s Ducati.

She had a storage cupboard bolted to the wall and bio-metrically locked and she opened it, offering Diana a helmet.

“Do God’s need helmets?” She asked curiously. She knew how durable Diana was, she had seen footage of some very epic fights, but wondered to what extent her strength peaked.

“I’m not a god!” The first inclination of anger to Diana’s tone made Lena pause and she visibly softened. “I’m sorry, I just-“

Diana shrugged a little and took the helmet and it was her turn to avoid Lena’s eyes.

Lena was struck, in that moment, how hard it must be, shouldering the world and giving them everything, while still hiding and protecting what you cared about, hiding yourself, the one thing you had left.

“I’m sorry,” she offered sincerely, and she meant it. She didn’t know much about Diana, only what the media knew, and her brothers files on Wonder Woman, and knew that fame, or in her case infamy, was a weight of its own.

Diana’s features were squished a little by the helmet and Lena bit back a smile.

“I shouldn’t have been so short with you.”

“No,” Lena said and hesitantly took Diana’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay. I under-well, I don’t understand completely, but I can relate. It’s fine.”

Diana took her hand in both of her own. “Still. Let me buy you breakfast?”

Sensing she wasn’t about to win this argument, or even being willing to fight over it, Lena nodded and grabbed her own helmet.

“I’ll have to start it for you,” she said as she returned, helmet dangling from one hand. “It’s got a bio-metric lock.”

She placed her palm on the tank, and a pressed a button with her thumb, a moment later there was a green scan, a beep and the bike rumbled to life.

“Very nice,” Diana grinned and moved to straddle the Ducati while Lena buckled her helmet.

“Where to?”

Lena gave it a moments thought. Through her friendship with Kara she had gone to a great many diners and cafes and restaurants, and she had rated them mentally. Tossing up the chance of meeting Kara at one of them, she selected her fourth favourite café, Elixir. The coffee was passable, but the eggs benedict was fantastic.

“Elixir. I’ll direct you.”

Swinging on behind Diana, she was thankful that she had Diana’s clutch between their bodies, even though it was of limited size.

“Make a right and head three blocks down,” she instructed. Diana revved the engine, the Ducati’s purr building into a roar and Lena felt, rather than heard, Diana groan.

“I don’t suppose this is factory?”

Lena laughed.

“You wouldn’t want to build me one, would you?”

Lena had to lean forward to shout into Diana’s ear.

“Tell me when your birthday is, and I’ll build you one.”

They left the building and drove to the café, finding a motorbike part a few hundred meters down the street.

Her bike would remain where it was until Lena placed her palm back on the scanner, to move it you would have to compete with the Earth’s magnetic force, and Lena quietly explained the mechanics behind it as they paid the parking and amicably walked towards the café.

Lena caught a few stray cameras as they walked and knew that, soon, there would be more to follow but… she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Arthur thought I may be able to help you come to terms with,” Diana hesitated, not fifteen minutes later when the two were sitting at a table in the little courtyard with their coffee’s. “…everything.”

Lena appreciated her subtly. She hardly wanted it to become public knowledge that she was a half-breed Atlantean, and it would be best to speak carefully. You never knew who could be listening.

“I went through something similar myself,” Diana continued, sipping her drink. She liked her coffee sweet, almost ridiculously so, and Lena wondered if super-sweet drinks were par and par with heroes as Kara had- never mind. She didn’t want to think about Kara while she was enjoying a nice breakfast, well brunch, with a new…friend?

“When I left my…home…” Diana lifted her brow pointedly and Lena got the hint. Wonder Woman was well known, now more so than ten years ago, for being the daughter of the Amazon’s who had left her home to fight the war’s of men, to protect humanity forever, only to learn she had been born of the God Zeus before his death. Now that would have been a shocker. Lena was having hard enough time dealing with her being a half-human Atlantean, let alone being the daughter of a God.

“I…wasn’t aware of my heritage. I learnt about it soon enough, though,” Diana smiled over at Lena. “And well, Arthur thought I might be a good person for you to speak to. I am here, as is he, for any questions you may have.”

Lena warmed her hands around her coffee mug, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. In the bright light of day, surrounded by warmth, light and life, her problems seemed less than the ones of the people around her, or the people in the world. But it still…. It was still present.

“How did you… come to terms with…everything? How did you…find peace with yourself?”

Wonder Woman was quite for a while, eyeing the group of mums’ trying to wrangle their children into high-chairs.

“As I told you last night,” she said finally, turning her dark, expressive eyes back on Lena. “Who we are is who we choose to be. What we were, who we were, is never who we are, or who we can become.”

Lena was quiet a moment, considering. “I don’t… I haven’t got-this wasn’t what I wanted,” she settled on.

Diana’s eyes were warm as she nodded gently.

“I know, Dear One.”

Lena’s voice didn’t tremble as she quietly, haltingly voiced her fears, in stilted Greek so that no one who might have been listening could understand.

“I can’t control…this,” she said carefully, working through what she wanted to say and glancing up at Diana every so often for judgement. But Diana was calm and reassuring, an anchor in a storm. The elder woman was…gentle and kind, and… Lena felt like she didn’t have to hold back. She just… trusted her explicitly. Normally Lena would be worried, but… Diana was Wonder Woman, she was just…

“I…feel like…the rules have changed…. And I don’t know what they are now.”

She stared down into the softening foam of her coffee, eyeing her lipstick on the mug with a mental note to wipe it off.

“I felt like I was finally, finally in control of my life and now I’m…” she lifted her shoulders in a shrug, gaze darting up to Diana’s helplessly.

Diana reached across the table and took one of her hands and applied gentle pressure.

“Lost? I felt that way too,” Diana reassured her. “I had an idea of who I was, who I was meant to be, and then,” she lifted her hand off of Lena’s for a moment, graceful and elegant with supressed power and Lena knew that she understood. “It all changed. My sisters they-“ she hesitated and her gaze went blank, dark eyes you could get lost in, unfocused and at an entirely different place.

“-They knew who I was,” she said carefully, avoiding the big, hey I’m the daughter of Zeus admission. “They didn’t mistrust me, they knew who I was better than that, but they were wary. How could they not be?”

Diana let her question linger a while, eyes unseeing and Lena shifted her hand beneath her own, lacing their fingers together in support. Lena understood that, the distrust for something that was out of your control. It sucked. But she understood human nature all too well.

“I didn’t want it, any of it,” Diana blinked back to the present and Lena jolted at the confession and frowned at the wry smile crossing Diana’s lips.

“You don’t believe me?”

Diana let out a little laugh, airy and soft, and Lena was saved having to reply with their meals being brought out to them.

“Thank you,” Lena said as she moved her drink out of the way for the server. She had gone with the eggs benedict, it was a classic and she really wanted the carbs. Emotions were difficult, and she had drunk far too much the night before.

“Merci,” Diana pronounced as the server set her own breakfast down, the full breakfast of eggs, bacon, potato, lettuce, mushroom and tomato.

Her accent was a little more pronounced as she continued, taking her fork and delicately spearing a mushroom. “I didn’t want anything to do with it. It wasn’t my choice and I had no control over it.”

Lena paused with her knife and fork part way through the bread. She had popped her eggs first, letting the yellow goo soften the bread before she ate it. It did make a mess but it was her favourite form of eggs. She’d use her bacon to wipe away the rest of it later.

“I-,” that was exactly how she felt.

Lena had gone through her life knowing who she was; Lena Luthor. She had become that, she had studied everything Lex had, studied medicine and engineering until Lex had seen how it was killing her and urged her to stop; she had wanted to please Lillian, and Lex had told her that driving herself into the dust wasn’t going to please their mother, she should stick to engineering where she thrived. She could save more people that way, rather than one at a time. Lena had set herself into the mould Lillian had cast for her, easing her edges in and folding over and over upon herself to fit, a sword, beaten and heated until it was sharp and deadly and perfect. A Luthor.

And then she had found out she was truly a Luthor all along. Part of her had suspected, or dreamed that it had been true, but she had cast the thought aside. She was their charity case, the orphan turned adopted daughter. A publicity stunt.

And now she was something else. Something she had no choice in and no control over. Lena Luthor was forged on control, precision, pressure, but it had always been someone else’s. Lena had been cast long before she even knew what that meant, and when Lex had been imprisoned and Luthor Corp had fallen into her hands she had felt free, even as the burden of it nearly killed her. She could control it now, she could control everything around her. She could control herself.

But she can’t control this, she can’t control her own body. It had been hers all her life, and now she didn’t know it. What else could she trust if she couldn’t trust herself, when it was all she’d had for all of her life? The answer was nothing. She couldn’t trust her own body and it was paralysing. She didn’t know the parameters of what was and what could be anymore. She was playing a game, dancing to a song she’d thought she knew, only to have it change half way through. If she couldn’t trust her body, then she couldn’t trust herself. She was flying, _falling_, blind and it was terrifying.

“When I first realised,” Diana began, cutting into a sausage, “I was….sad and angry and just so confused but… I realised, that knowing didn’t change who I was. I decided who I was, no one else.”

Diana took a few moments to chew and then pointed the tip of her fork at Lena.

“Who are you, Lena Luthor?”

“I-“ Lena hesitated as a ripple of excitement ran through the building and muted gasps and hushed whispers of ‘Supergirl.’

Her heart tripped and she straightened, determinedly not looking out of her peripheral vision where she could see the Girl Scout at the counter, brightly ordering something no doubt full of sugar.

Tension overtook her body and she could feel it coiling, ready to snap and release her rage to the world.

Diana glanced over, a casual move disguised as a roll of her shoulder, a scratching of an itch.

Understanding was present when she looked back at Lena and she lifted a brow in question.

Lena had felt her features harden the moment she became aware of Kara, and she pulled her shoulders in, almost hunching over her meal if not for excellent breeding. She had long been trained in the proper dining etiquette, and not even Kara’s surprise presence could break her of it.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Diana said smoothly, lowering her fork and reaching for her coffee. “The vase in the hallway, is it an original?”

Lena, roused from her paralysis, blinked and took a moment to gather herself. “Oh, um,” she cleared her throat and glanced briefly up at Diana. “Yes, early eleventh century.”

She hadn’t heard from Kara since she and Alex had tried to ambush her in her own office when she had her interview with Cat Grant. The next day it had been announced that CATCO was once again in the hands of its founder, and she was back and ready to sort it out. Lena had learnt of the ultimatums Cat had given to James, according to Eve, who had heard from another of the interns there, she had told him to hang up his helmet or his camera. She’d have one or the other.

She also, according to Eve’s source, had some stern words for him regarding the integrity of journalists and their duty to freedom and truth. It had been, apparently, a very humbling moment for all within earshot. James had been thoroughly chastened.

Neither Kara nor Supergirl had made an attempt to reach out, the silence was telling, but maybe it was because Supergirl had been busy with new anti-alien protests popping up over the city. Though their hatred of anything off-world clearly didn’t extend to technology. Lena had itched to get her hands on some of the guns she had seen in media reports. Supergirl was having a hard time dealing with them.

“The Monet in my room is original as well.”

Diana leant forward. “Now, that is interesting,” she said, eyes glinting and Lena let a smirk. “I thought the gallery in Berlin had that on permanent loan.”

“You’d think for a historian you’d be able to pick up on a fake,” Lena commented, relaxing a hair, and her muscles ached as she slowly released them.

“Lena!”

Until then.

Her body went rigid again and she pointedly didn’t look to Kara, who she could hear approaching, probably with that stupid pretty smile on her face.

“I didn’t see you there,” Kara said as she approached and Lena could hear the whispers of her presence ripple through the café, more so than they had already. Lena had purposely dressed down and had not drawn attention to herself. A few café-goers had gone ‘is that?’ but hadn’t been able to confirm it yay or nay. They certainly could now though.

Her fist tightened around her fork as her features closed off and Diana’s hand shot out to rest on her own, guiding her hand down to the table with a hidden strength. Lena resisted a brief moment and was rewarded with an increase in guiding strength as well as imploring eyes and she gave in. At another time she’d like to test her own strength to Diana’s, but not with Supergirl breathing down her neck.

“Supergirl,” Lena said clearly, coldly as her fingers pointedly unclenched from around her fork, leaving it hidden under her palm as Diana placed her hand on top.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She still hadn’t turned to look at her, didn’t want to see the fading hope in cerulean eyes and have the flare in her chest as she ached to take the pain away, and then the simmering fury and betrayal take over. She didn’t like how vindication felt, but she couldn’t help but feel it every time she outdid Supergirl, but then she felt guilty. It was a vicious cycle.

“How are you? Who’s your friend?” Kara’s voice was kind and questioning, barely a waver, but Lena could detect it and her fingers twitched. Diana pressed a thumb against her skin warningly.

“Supergirl,” Diana said, and Lena could feel the power of Supergirl’s gaze shift to Diana, who didn’t even flinch under it. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Diana Prince.”

She offered her hand and Kara took it and they shook hands, holding on for a long moment after before Diana withdrew her hand and reached across the table to take Lena’s hand in both of her own.

“I’m fine, Supergirl,” Lena enunciated politely, reaching for her drink with her other hand, anything to keep her eyes off Kara, and the very distracting way Diana was stroking the skin of her palm. She hadn’t thought that the skin there would be sensitive, but it was prickling and tickling her pleasantly.

“Hi!” Kara chirped and Lena forced her racing heart to calm itself with steady breaths. “Are you a friend of Lena’s? How long are you in town?”

“Yes,” Diana answered with a smile. “We are…_close_...”

Lena lifted a brow, a slight twitch in Diana’s direction. Even Kara, as oblivious as she sometimes was, or pretended to be, couldn’t miss the overt insinuation.

“Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Cool.” Supergirl bounced on her toes and there was an awkward silence.

Taking strength in Diana’s presence Lena slowly turned to face Kara, finally. Kara was staring down at their joined hands, a furrow to her brow. She looked… radiant in the morning light, seeming to glow with the presence of the sun, and Lena’s heart fluttered.

“Well, um, er, I’ll leave you to it. Your friendly coffee date between girls who are just friends because dating your friends would be weird and not that I’m opposed to that or anything but I’m just gonna…yup.” Lena saw the outline of a hand rising to jab over her shoulder and Kara made, what could only be described as (and would later be described by the internet as) an awkward retreat.

“I wasn’t aware you knew Supergirl,” Diana said after a few moments, and Lena was conscious of the eyes and ears on them.

“We’ve worked together in the past,” Lena said raising her hand slightly in request. “However, we recently had a …difference in opinion and decided to take a break from working together.” Diana pulled her hands away briefly and Lena looked past her palm to the bent and mangled metal that had been her fork. Oops.

Diana took her hands away completely, discreetly taking the fork with her and Lena wondered if she was going to take it home or bend it back into shape or something.

“What happened?”

“I thought I could trust her with something, and I misjudged her,” Lena said honestly, aware that Kara could hear every word and wanting them to twist into her heart like knives, so she understood a fraction of the pain she had put Lena through with her betrayal.

Diana slid the fork back across the table, slightly out of shape but nothing that would draw attention. “Well, that is a shame, but you know these hero types.”

Lena tilted her head a moment, what commentary could an actual hero have on how heroes were perceived?

“They spend so much time in the clouds that they forget to walk among the rest of us. They don’t have to shoulder the burdens they do alone,” Diana’s lips twitched. “A friend once told me, that we don’t have to go it alone, none of us, and to think we have to is to thoroughly misjudge ourselves and each other.”

Sensing more to her words than they appeared to be, Lena lifted a brow and was rewarded with a smile that twisted her heart. “You are not alone, Lena.”

And, Lena thought as Diana returned to her meal, she was right. Lena wasn’t alone. Not anymore. Never again.


	8. Chapter 8

“You know,” Diana commented as she cooled her body down, breathing slowly and powerfully and enjoying the ache in her muscles. “If you wanted to trust your body, you should at least be aware of what it is capable of.”

Lena grunted from where she was jogging on the treadmill, maintaining a moderate pace while keeping an eye on the clock and her own heart-rate. She’d been running for little under an hour at a nine and ten mph speed, and so far was coping with the exercise well. Usually she went for a moderate jog and only for twenty odd minutes before she felt the strain and would eventually stop, but now she was finding the exercise almost easy.

“Allow me to teach you how to spar,” Diana rose from where she had been stretching out her legs after pummelling Lena’s rarely used punching bag.

“Why?”

“Because, Dear One,” Wonder Woman explained gently, a slight shine of sweat to her skin, making her almost glow in the amber light of the dawn. “If you know what you are capable of, then you know your boundaries. There is power in knowledge, is there not?”

And of course Diana would appeal to her logical, scientific nature. Damn her.

“Fine,” she huffed and turned the treadmill down, settling into a slow jog and then into a walk before she turned it off completely.

“Excellent!” Diana was smiling.

“What have you trained in? Do you have any experience with combat or self-defence?”

Lena had taken self-defence classes from when she was a child, Lionel had insisted. Lena was the newly adopted daughter of billionaire’s and, well, the world was a nasty place. She had joined Lex with his private martial-arts teacher and was taught basic self defence as well as marksmanship. Lex took better to combat than Lena had, she preferred her books, but as long as she was shooting a clay bird, and not the real thing, she had a near 100% accuracy.

“I know some basics,” she answered before sipping from her drink bottle. “Mostly getting away from people. I was never much of a fighter.” She left out her swordsmanship, wondering if maybe she could surprise the demi-god with it later.

“Not physically, maybe,” Dianna corrected smoothly as she shoved her mat to the side. ‘But if you think you aren’t a fighter then you’re a fool, and you are many things, Lena Luthor, but you are not a fool.”

Lena met her dark, expressive eyes and glanced away without a comment.

As the morning progressed Diana taught her how to punch properly, block attacks, and how to fall without hurting yourself. Lena was bruised and battered by the end of her training but her body hummed with energy, and that other thing she wasn’t quiet ready to acknowledge just yet, or she would once she figured it out.

Diana had barely broken a sweat and was smiling as she helped Lena off the ground.

“Lunch?”

Lena just groaned and Diana grabbed her phone as she wandered out into the hall, slapping Lena’s ass playfully. “I’ll find us somewhere to eat.”

Lena did as she was bid, now used to following Diana’s lead. She was very persuasive, and… it was nice to just… have someone worthy of her trust and to just…be….

She had gone in to work as well, and Diana had accompanied her on occasion. Lena had enjoyed their time together. Diana was intelligent, knowledgeable, funny, compassionate, and always had impressive observations. She wasn’t sure what Wonder Woman got up to when she wasn’t baby-sitting Lena, but she had seemed to be fine with the arrangement, even taking time to visit some people and to pop in to Gotham. Lena had been a little jealous of that, Bruce Wayne was a hard man to get a hold of, and Lena would love to pick at the mind behind some of Batman’s inventions. 

Showering quickly, and taking note of her already healing bruises, she mentally ran through her wardrobe before exiting and getting dressed.

As she was drying her hair there was a knock at her door.

“Come in,” she instructed and ran her fingers through her hair, getting them tangled and she was working out the knot when Diana popped her head around the corner, swiftly followed by her body. Lena nearly choked.

Wonder Woman had her hair already dried and it was brushed out of her face and spilling over her shoulders, but what immediately caught Lena’s attention was that she wasn’t wearing anything apart from a simple black underwear set.

“Which one do you think, Dear One?”

She caught her reflection in the mirror and forcibly closed her mouth.

“I like this one,” Diana was saying, holding up one dress that looked more like it belonged on a towel rack than a body, and the other was a set of leather pants and a white shirt. “But I think this is better for lunch. What do you think?”

Lena was struggling to tear her eyes off the expanse of skin and swallowed harshly and pointed to the pants and shirt. As hard as it would be to keep her eyes off of Diana while she was dressed like that, it would be better she not be caught drooling over the brunette while she was in a skin-tight body-hugging black dress. She had some dignity after all.

“Excellent!”

Diana blew her a kiss and vanished back around the door and Lena sagged against her vanity, dimly aware of the sound of the hairdryer over the roaring in her ears.

It was as though Diana had sucked the air out of the room with her exit and Lena panted a little in the mirror and took a moment to gather herself.

Being on the receiving end of such blatant seduction wasn’t something she was familiar with. The grown man-child’s she grew up with, and the ones she was now forced to do business with, were all entitled and, as Kara would say, jerk-faces who thought the world owed them whatever they desired. Usually Lena.

Before Lex had gone crazy it had been a desire to own one of the Luthor’s, to one-up them, afterwards it had been about conquering, and then no one had wanted to go near her. One-night stands in other countries where no-one knew her name, but those were few and far between. Especially recently. It had been a while, certainly since before she moved to National City, and Diana wasn’t being subtle. Lena just wondered what her angle was. Diana would have no problem finding someone to spend the night with, she was beautiful, charming, smart, and had an air about her that just… she was magnetic.

Shaking herself of her improper thoughts she resumed drying her hair and was soon putting on her make-up and jewellery.

Diana had taken up space in the guest room, taking advantage of Lena’s hospitality and using the opportunity to learn more about Lena. She had appointed herself Lena’s friend and was doing her best to live up to the position.

Vulko was in an apartment near-by, having begrudgingly accepted her offer of a room and food, and even an allowance. It had taken a lot of negotiation to get him to agree, and eventually she sort of ordered him, he had smiled wryly but allowed it. She’d argued that as he was teaching her, on call and whenever she wanted, he at least deserved the equivalent of a teacher’s salary, and as what he was teaching was beyond specialised, then she could increase his salary. They had settled on an apartment, food and clothing, as well as money he could use to buy anything else he wished. Transport wasn’t a problem, as he liked to walk, or run, everywhere, so his main expenses were food, wine for which he had expensive taste, and leisure activities.

Vulko had visited every museum and zoo and had made plans to visit more. He liked to learn, and Lena enjoyed his outsider insight on many things.

She had been meaning to, at gentle prodding from Diana, who only wanted her to get in touch with a friend, though Lena suspected Diana knew exactly who Kara Danvers was, get in touch with her tentative best friend. They were going to talk and it wasn’t a conversation she was looking forward to having.

Her recent revelations, as well as insightful conversations with Diana, had left her….of two minds about Kara and her secret.

She could understand keeping the secret, truly, she was keeping one of her own now, one that would probably lead to prejudice against her if anyone found out, so she could understand. But this was Kara. Kara who had sworn to always be her friend, to support her no matter what, to be on her side.

Kara who had treated her like a Luthor, knowing full well how Lena felt about being treated like that. Kara who had used James to betray her trust, who had spoken to her so unfairly. Any suspicions she’d had about Kara being someone else had vanished entirely after their business with Reign. Lena hadn’t wanted to believe her best friend, or supposed best friend, had been capable of such betrayal.

It was Kara’s secret, that was true, but since everyone else knew, the only reason Lena could think of for why Kara hadn’t told her was… her. Lena Luthor wasn’t worthy of the secret. It stung. It was agonising. But it was the only logical explanation.

Kara Danvers, Supergirl, didn’t tell Lena Luthor, her supposed best friend, who she was because she didn’t trust her.

Years of friendship just wasted, with only one party, Lena, invested in it. She had been open and transparent, far more than she should have, and Kara had just used her.

Lena was looking forward to the confrontation. The more she thought about it the angrier she became, until she could feel it roiling in her insides, molten and hot, bubbling away in rage. And then she became horribly defeated about it, in a moment of clarity, when she looked in the mirror and saw her brother looking back.

Lex had loved Clark until he hadn’t, and Lena had been unable to fight as his fury had descended on Metropolis, until Superman had been beaten into the ground. It had been luck, and perhaps desperation, that had saved Kal El, and led him to defeat Lex.

Lena had seen him, at the peak of his so-called madness, and he had the glint in his eyes, which Lena had seen in her own. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light, but she had been bent over the vanity, willingly drowning herself in how she had been used, the feelings associated with the entire thing, gripping the marble until her knuckles were white.

She had glanced up and had frozen. For a moment she had been looking across time and space, eyes meeting an intelligent pair twisted and lit with rage as Metropolis burned and people screamed. Lex had been surrounded by fire and blood and he had relished in it. It had been blazing in his eyes, burning in the night, and that same fire burnt in Lena’s.

Horrified she had stumbled away from the mirror; from the truth she saw in it.

In that flash, or maybe it was the lightning creeping in through the partially drawn curtains, she had seen her future. Bitter and twisted she would descend into darkness, into cruelty and hatred, following her brother and dragging L-Corp with her. She would return to nothing. Everything she had worked for would be torn down, ripped to shreds and by her own hand, and she feared she wouldn’t care.

All those sleepless nights, twenty hour days holding Luthor Corp above the black line by sheer will alone, gritting her teeth and holding it close as the world fell down around her. Her move to National City, the problems that came with that, but also the victories. L-Corp was one of the biggest and best companies in the world, and her employees genuinely enjoyed working for her, and towards her goals. It made her proud, proud again to be a Luthor. Proud, for the first time in her life while standing on her own, proud to be Lena Luthor.

She couldn’t afford to be angry, couldn’t afford to go down that road, no matter how much Kara may have deserved it for her betrayal. Lena couldn’t be that person, not to Kara, and nor to her friends, for it was clear whose side they were on. But Lena couldn’t blame them, not really.

Lena was a Luthor. There was nothing she could do about that, she was a Luthor in name and in blood, but she didn’t want to be a ‘Luthor’ in deed. She wanted to be Lena Luthor, and she wanted to change what that meant, to both herself and the world.

Lena was a Luthor, but she was also Lena, and she would decide who that was from now on. Not Kara, not Supergirl, not the World, not even her cousin and his kin. Lena decided who she was, and she would take that legacy and build it, build it until Lex Luthor was but a footnote in her own story, until Lillian Luthor was a side to her story, but not part of it. Lena wanted more than that, for herself, and for her legacy.

She was still conflicted about it, about what sort of legacy it was, but she knew what she wanted it to be. She wanted to save the world, she wanted to help people. She could do that, as whoever she was, she just needed to figure out who she was, with all of who she is.

She just really needed to figure that out, but she knew it wasn’t down the path of fury and hurt directed at Kara, Supergirl, whoever she called herself. Lena couldn’t go to war with her, she had no reason to throw everything away in pursuit of challenging a god. She could see the appeal, could see why Lex had thrown everything at Clark, the thought of being worthy enough to challenge a god, to stand up against the strongest and fiercest power of all as an equal…. But strength encouraged challenge, challenge inspired conflict, and conflict bred chaos. And Lena’d had enough of chaos.

What she really needed was someone to talk to, someone other than Diana. Ideally they’d understand what she was going through, starting as something and then becoming something else. Supergirl would be good to talk to, ideally, as she had been something, someone, before she had come to earth, and then she had developed power beyond measure. But Lena wasn’t about to talk to Kara any time soon, and not about the heritage she was still coming to terms with.

She’d probably talk to anyone else. Her list of people was slim, all of Kara’s friends were on Kara’s side, if they had ever supported Lena in any case, and Jess wasn’t someone she could talk to about it. All she had was…

She could have kicked herself. The answer presented itself instantly.

Sam.

Samantha Arias was just an adopted girl, a normal human, who had woken one day to strange symbols on her mirror, seeing them in the air around her. Samantha Arias had a god inside of her. God’s loathe challengers, but Samantha Arias had won. She had done the impossible. She had fought a god and beaten her.

If anyone could understand what Lena was going through, becoming something, someone different, then it was Sam.

All Lena had to do was go and see her.

~*~

The L-Corp building in Metropolis had equal security to the greatest airports in the world, to the most important buildings in the country, on account of the business and building having less than exalted reputation in the city. Lena Luthor walked straight through the doors like she owned the place. Which she did.

She had driven from National City to Metropolis soon after her realisation, and had driven through the night, to get there early morning. It had been easy enough to take temporary leave, especially as she was able to keep up with her work due to her reduced sleep hours. She had been able to pass off some more of her work to her Head’s of Department, on advice from Diana. She’d told Diana she was going to Metropolis to talk to someone who understood, and Diana, who she was fairly certain already knew exactly who she was going to meet, had said she needed to go back home for a while, so it suited them both. Vulko was easy to please as well, though he had been wary of her traveling so far without his protection. But he had told her if she needed help she only had to go down to the ocean and ask for it.

A few eager security guards tried to halt her as she swept into the building, but once they realised who she was they let her pass easily, though she saw phones being lifted and knew the building would know she was here soon enough.

She got on the elevator with a few other employees, mind on other things, many other things, so she didn’t notice the stares. People came on and off as they rose steadily towards the highest office buildings, and Lena made a mental note to see if the building could be upgraded. The speed was painfully slow compared to what she was used to.

Eventually the elevator opened to the head offices and Lena stepped out. She followed the directions to Sam’s office. Once Sam had fled National City, and all of the horrible realisations there, she had returned to Metropolis. Lena had offered her the CEO position there, knowing she had the qualifications, and wanting her taken care of. The CEO of Metropolis L-Corp was a high paid position, though Lena was aware that money wasn’t everything. She and her lawyers had made sure the package was attractive, in hours, pay, leave, and bonus’. Sam had accepted, of course, but it didn’t mean Lena didn’t miss her. They talked, skyped, but she hadn’t seen Sam since she had left National City and she was looking forward to it. For many reasons.

Sam’s secretary leapt from her desk, wide-eyed as Lena approached.

“Miss Luthor!”

“Hello…Abigail,” a glance over her name plate and Lena smiled pleasantly at her. “Might I speak with Samantha?”

“Of-of course Miss Luthor,” the woman squeaked and scurried to her desk and Lena caught her calling through to Sam, even though she spoke in a hushed whisper, and tried to keep her mouth from moving.

Lena caught the words faintly but didn’t pay them much attention, she didn’t want to eavesdrop.

Soon enough she was being invited into Sam’s office and then she was being embraced.

“Lena!”

“Sam!”

Sam had always had a strength to her, something strong and unyielding, and there had been something in her that had drawn Lena. Both of them had been young, the youngest in Luthor Corp, and while Lena was buried in her studies Sam had been working two jobs to pay for a sitter for Ruby, and had very nearly been fired because she was falling asleep during work hours.

Lena had been the one to find her on her third strike, had been curious instead of angry, and an exhausted Sam had told her everything. About her second job, how she would work before and after Luthor Corp to pay for food for Ruby, for a sitter who had quit, to put away money for clothes and toys. She had been distraught, terrified of the bosses daughter, but Lena had been in awe of her instead. Lena hadn’t told on her, instead Lena had listened as Sam had cried about having no sitter for Ruby, and how she was staying with her landlady at a ridiculous cost while Sam was working on her report for her HoD.

Lena had offered to help, staying the night and working with Sam on it. Sam had reluctantly accepted the help and together they had finished the report. Sam had thanked Lena by baking her cupcakes and a solid friendship had formed. Sam was promoted because of her work and didn’t have to work two jobs to support herself and Ruby, and Lena got a friend out of it. Her first friend, apart from Jack.

“I missed you,” Lena’s voice was a little muffled by Sam’s leather jacket.

“Me too,” Sam was a little taller than Lena, especially in her heels whereas Lena had gone with flat shoes.

“It’s good to see you.”

Sam hummed an affirmative and squeezed her once again before pulling away.

“Why are you here?”

It wasn’t asked in anger or in suspicion, instead it was the kind and soft way a parent would ask a child why they had done a certain thing.

“I needed to talk to you,” Lena rolled her fingers together in an uncharacteristic display of nerves. “And I really missed you.”

Sam’s eyes were warm but they darted back to her desk and the work she no doubt had.

“I’d love that but..”

“I understand,” Lena interrupted, knowing that her unannounced arrival had thrown Sam off. “I’m sorry for the intrusion. I’ll… go and keep myself busy.” She partially rolled her eyes, “see the sights.”

Sam’s head tilted briefly. “I have a better idea. Ruby’s been dying to come and visit. Why don’t you go and pick her up? I’ll let the school know you’re coming, and then we can have dinner later?”

Lena couldn’t hold back her smile. “I’d like that. Are you sure?”

“Of course!”

Sam was grinning as she passed by her desk to pick up the phone and within a few minutes Ruby’s school knew that her ‘Aunt Lena’ was coming to pick her up.

“You can take my car if you want?” Sam asked, unaware Lena had driven her own Mercedes and had parked it in the building’s VIP parking.

“I’ve got it sorted,” Lena said with a nod and a sly smile. “Is she allowed ice-cream?”

Sam let out a little laugh, and some part of her just warmed at the sound, that everything was going to be okay because she was back with Sam. Maybe it was the mother in her, but she had some way of making Lena always feel better, it had been why Lena had gone to extreme lengths to protect her from Reign, and the people who wanted to hurt them both. There wasn’t anything she wasn’t willing to do to keep her safe. She was one of her best friends.

“Don’t give her too much sugar,” Sam cautioned, but Lena caught the wink.

“I’ll see you after work, say half five?”

“I’ll book us somewhere for dinner?”

Soon it was decided, and Lena strode from the building, lifting her aviators and placing them on her head to avoid the paparazzi who had learnt of her presence in Metropolis. The parking was outside, a foolish decision, but the building permits for Luthor Corp, even when it became L-Corp, in Metropolis were strict and harsh. The government had to prove a point, and most employees had to car pool or take public transport too and from work, and you’d find better laboratories in a school. They also had restrictions on their purchases and sales. But such was the cost of Luthor rage.

She had to walk down the side-walk to the next block over, where they share parking spaces with other office buildings near-by. The company had to pay a fortune for the parking, and Lena felt a little guilty about taking someone’s park, but not guilty enough to mentally vow to purchase the entire block, turn it into L-Corp parking, and strong-arm the city into letting her build a crosswalk from the building to the parking, over the street.

Metropolis City Council would never let her do it, but it was nice to think of as the paparazzi descended on her with camera’s flashing in her face and microphones shoved before her.

They shouted all sorts of unpleasant things, asking questions and demanding answers, but she was well practiced with ignoring the vultures and paid them no mind, even though she did want to shatter their cameras, crush their microphones, and maybe even break some bones. Fortunately for them, Lena wasn’t prone to bursts of violence, and she didn’t really want to go to jail. Not for something so petty, at least. If she was going to wear that dreaded orange, she’d have blood on her hands, and the world would be a better place for it. But she didn’t want to think of such things, she didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she would be willing if necessary.

She got into her car, and had to beep several of them out of the way, and nearly ran a few over on accident because they wouldn’t move, but soon she was driving familiar streets. She took a few turns to lose her tails, and was certain she had, before she drove to Ruby’s school.

Lena and her lawyers had found a good school and apartment as part of the package for Sam. She had the opportunity to decline, and to choose her own of course, but Lena had wanted the best for them. They were close to a shopping mall, L-Corp, and to Ruby’s school, so it was a perfect location and Sam had the opportunity to buy the apartment herself if she wanted, even though it was provided rent free for her tenure as CEO.

Lena hadn’t driven in Metropolis for a long time, and part of her was interested to see how it had changed since she had been gone. There were new buildings everywhere, probably on account of Superman’s villain of the week, and she made a mental note to enquire of National City’s mayor as to what damages having Supergirl in their city made. She knew it would be a lot, but she also knew that the DEO replaced much of the costs incurred, if only because Supergirl was their pet alien. She could just ask Kara but she wasn’t in the mood. She had a brief thought of making Snapper give Kara an article on the damages a Super did to a city, but thought it was too petty and a little bit cruel.

She got a few looks from curious students, who really should have been in class, when Lena parked her car and strode towards the reception. They clearly didn’t see vehicles like hers all too often and she wondered if she should have gone with subtle, but she had been in an odd mood last night when she had decided to leave National City for Metropolis, and she had wanted speed. Part of her had wanted to fit into that Luthor mould the world seemed determined to put her in, but she had been too muddled to think on it further. Sam would be able to talk things through with her, and really she had missed her and Ruby.

There were a few women in reception, working for the school and the children, and Lena was quiet and measured as she informed the receptionist she was here to collect Ruby Arias.

She was recognised instantly, especially with her glasses off, but she was required to sign her name. She was thankful Sam had already rung the school to tell them that ‘Aunt Lena’ would be picking Ruby up, otherwise there may have been a problem. She could see the receptionist wasn’t happy to see her, likely on account of her last name, but Lena was used to it and instead dug her phone from her pocket to absently scroll through her messages while Ruby was fetched from class.

Maybe Sam and Lena should have given her a heads up, a text message or something, though on reflection she realised that Ruby wouldn’t be having her phone on her in class, but they had wanted it to be a surprise. And a surprise it was.

Lena heard the doors open and then Ruby was asking the receptionist, Mrs Mack, what was going on.

“I’m taking you for ice-cream,” Lena said, turning and placing her phone into her pocket.

Ruby looked older, that was the first thing Lena noticed. She’d started to wear make-up and her hair was longer and died in different colours.

“Aunt Lena?!” Ruby shrieked, dropped her bag, and launched herself at Lena.

“Hello Ruby,” Lena wrapped her arms around the excited teenager and squeezed her tight, but not too tight, she was mindful of her greater strength now.

“Hi! What are you doing here?!”

Lena winced slightly at the enthusiastic volume but couldn’t stop smiling.

‘I came to see you,” Lena answered, pulling away and looking Ruby over. “Love what you’ve done with your hair.”

Ruby’s cheeks went red and she ducked her head shyly. “Thanks!”

“Get your bag. I’m taking you for ice-cream.”

“Yus!” Ruby gave a fist pump and trotted back for her bag. “Any given Sundae?”

“Of course,” Lena smiled, as though there was anywhere else to get ice-cream in Metropolis.

“How’s school?” Lena asked as Ruby strode next to her as they exited the reception.

“Good! That tutoring you gave me while Mum was sick helped me loads! I’ve got an A- average in chemistry and physics!”

Lena just smiled at Ruby fondly as Ruby chattered a mile a minute as they made their way to Lena’s car. She clicked the button to unlock it, and to also turn it into a convertible and the roof was folded away by the time she and Ruby got in.

She would have warned Ruby to buckle up but the girl was well trained and was already clicking her seat-belt into place.

“You can choose the music,” Lena offered as she twisted slightly to buckle herself in.

Grinning Ruby connected her phone to the Blue-Tooth as Lena drove them from the school and Ruby waved to someone she knew before a god awful screeching hit Lena’s ears.

“What is this?” She asked after a few moments of driving. Her ears were starting to hurt.

“Music, Aunt Lena! Get with it!”

Ruby was bobbing her head to the music, and Lena tried to find a beat and rhythm but failed at it spectacularly.

“I can’t say I think much of your choice,” she commented as they waited at a stop sign.

Ruby sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. “You have old peoples taste in music.”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“Ye-ah,” Ruby ducked her as though Lena were stupid. “_Old_.”

“Rude,” she said, playfully narrowing her eyes at Ruby.

She poked her tongue out in response and Lena could only chuckle.

Soon they were pulling off into a car park and Lena felt her chest ache as she recalled Lex taking her there when she completed her first Master’s, aged seventeen. It had taken her a bit longer than it had taken him, but she was doing two at the same time, and completed her second the year after. Right in time for her world to turn to shit. Still, the building held fond memories of Jack as well.

“I’ll get us a booth!” Ruby darted towards the doors while Lena followed at a more moderate pace.

The building was set on a corner block, with a McDonalds on the opposite side and a large parking lot in the middle. It hadn’t changed, they even had the same ice-cream related puns on the front window. Today’s read: _Had some green coloured ice-cream. It was mint_!

Internally rolling her eyes Lena pulled the door open and was instantly hit with the cooler air.

Ruby had thrown her jacket over a table and was already standing before the counter and browsing the selection.

She was grinning a mile wide and Lena couldn’t help but smile a little as she stepped in behind her, removing her aviators and placing them on her shirt collar. She knew she was leaving her identity open for scrutiny, but wearing sunglasses inside was rude, and she was raised better than that.

“What can I get?”

“Your mother didn’t want you spoilt for dinner,” Lena always went for the classic strawberry. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” she added with a wink and, if possible, Ruby’s grin widened.

“Awesome!” She turned back to the menu and started muttering to herself.

Lena cast a careful glance over the establishment, trying to identify anyone showing a little bit too much attention to her and Ruby, but found a mother with two kids, an elderly couple, and a teenager bent over a laptop. The store would get busier later, when school finished.

Soon Ruby was ordering and Lena added her own scoop to the order. While she could almost eat as much as she wanted now she was swimming so much, habits were hard to break and she went for a small.

Paying, and making sure to leave a generous tip on account of the servers eyes widening but remaining professional in his service, she let Ruby’s voice call her over to the booth.

“So,” Ruby took a great spoonful of ice cream, smearing some around her lips and Lena was glad that Lillian wasn’t anywhere near her. Lena had been schooled out of that habit quickly as well, even though she had been a child. Appearances were everything after all. “Who’s the new guy?”

“New guy?” Lena paused, part way to taking her first bite of ice-cream.

“The one you’ve been seen with,” Ruby said, waving her spoon around before digging it in.

Lena paused, had someone seen her with Arthur and jumped to conclusions?

“He’s a bit old,” Ruby added, nose crinkling and Lena leant back. Ah, she was referencing Vulko.

“He’s my teacher,” Lena replied, wondering when Ruby had learnt to care about such mindless gossip. She was a young teenager, Lena considered, though not that old just yet, she amended as Ruby tilted her head and darted her tongue out to catch some syrup.

“Cool! What’s he teach?”

“I’m learning another language,” Lena said slowly, wondering what she should share with Ruby. She hadn’t even told Sam yet. “It’s all rather boring, I’m afraid. Tell me how the move has been? Has your mother been alright?”

Ruby accepted the topic change as children do.

“It’s been okay,” she toyed with her sundae a moment before glancing up at Lena. “Moving halfway through the year was hard,” she gave a little shrug of the shoulder. “But its okay now. Mum’s good. I think she has met someone,” Ruby said, leaning forward conspiratorially. 

“Oh?” This was the first Lena had heard of it and she wanted to make sure that Sam was happy.

“Yeah,” Ruby scrunched her nose up. “She’s been texting all the time. Very secretive,” she said pointedly and Lena couldn’t help but smile.

“Is she now? Mh.”

“Do you know who it is?”

Lena shook her head. “I have no idea. We haven’t had a chance to catch up yet. We will later though.”

Ruby was quiet a while. “I’m sorry you nearly died,” she whispered into her ice-cream and Lena felt her heart clench at the vulnerability in her voice.

Though Sam had rung her as soon as the news went viral and had nearly flown out to check on her, but Lena had reassured her she was okay and that wouldn’t be necessary. She had to face-time both Arias’ so they could see her, see that she was indeed alright, and she also had to accept calls from them the few days afterwards, until they returned to weekly chats. She’d really missed them both though.

Lena reached across the table and touched Ruby’s hand briefly.

Her eyes darted up and Lena let herself smile gently at Ruby. “I’m okay, I promise.”

Ruby gave a little nod and Lena withdrew her hand.

“What do you want to do for the afternoon? Your mother still has to work,” she smiled at Ruby’s grimace, “so you’re stuck with me until later.”

Ruby grinned, no doubt Lena was more of a push-over than Sam when it came to giving Ruby what she wanted. “Awesome. Can we go bowling?”

Lena shook her head. “Maybe leave that for the weekend so Sam can come?”

Ruby brightened. “Are you staying that long?”

“If you and your mother will have me.”

“Sweet! Maybe I can take tomorrow off, and we can hang out?” Her eyes went shrewd and Lena laughed softly.

“You’ll have to talk to your mother,” she said she leant forward. “I hear she has a good boss.”

Ruby cheered. “You’re the best, Aunt Lena!”

Sat opposite Ruby’s pure, innocent joy Lena knew that coming to Metropolis was just what she had needed.


	9. Chapter 9

“Now,” Sam said curling up on the couch with her glass of wine. “Tell me why you really came to Metropolis.”

Lena lifted her eyes off of her own glass, partially offended that Sam would think she had ulterior motives.

“Lena,” she lifted her brows pointedly. “I have a teenager, I know when there is more to it.”

“I did miss you. I do,” Lena offer sincerely, not sure how to broach the subject just yet.

“I know,” Sam carefully leant forward to touch her on the arm. “But I know that isn’t it. Your work is too important, and I know you’ve been taking more time off. Who’s the new people in your life?”

Lena’s expression soured. “Ruby thinks he’s too old for me.”

Letting out a little laugh Sam settled on the couch. It was getting late and the three of them, Lena, Sam and Ruby, had enjoyed a fine dining experience before returning back to the apartment. Lena had thought to get a hotel but Sam wouldn’t hear of it, saying she’d be making pancakes in the morning and Lena couldn’t miss it. Faced with Sam’s open smile and Ruby’s hopeful gaze Lena had agreed. She’d kept her suitcase in the car anyway, figuring she’d just walk into a Hilton or somewhere and rent a room for a few nights. She was glad she wouldn’t be faced with the impersonal, though high quality, presidential suite.

“What of the woman? Your new ‘gal-pal’?”

Lena felt her face heat and couldn’t be sure if it was the wine or not.

“Tell me everything,” Sam demanded and Lena let out a sigh.

“Vulko,” Lena began and then added, “the man I’ve been seen with. He knew my mother.”

At Sam’s wide eyes she nodded. “My birth mother. He’s been… teaching me about her and where she came from.”

Sam nodded slowly, taking another sip of her wine. “And the woman? Tell me you aren’t fucking, because last I checked you were head over heels for a certain CatCo reporter.”

Lena’s wine-glass shattered in her hand, spilling wine everywhere.

“Shoot!”

She stumbled off the couch, trying to cup her hands under the wine.

Sam launched herself up and into the kitchen, her own wine glass nearly spilling on the carpet as she went.

“I’m so sorry,” Lena said, trying to keep the liquid in her palms.

“It’s…fine….” Sam hedged cautiously and Lena followed her gaze to where the red wine was hovering in the air around Lena’s fingers, held there by some unseen power.

“Huh,” Sam commented, idly curious as she held out her tea-towel to catch the liquid. As though some command had been voiced the wine spilled from Lena’s hands and onto the fabric.

“Do you need a med-kit?” Sam enquired as she carefully stepped forward, avoiding shards of glass.

Lena didn’t even need to wipe her hands on the towel, her skin was clear and dry and she slowly lifted her eyes to Sam’s.

“Um…”

Sam was quiet a long while. “I’ll clean this up and then you are gonna tell me everything. Okay?”

Lena nodded. Sam hadn’t run away or was freaking out and Lena let out a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding.

Sam was quick to clean up, taking the glass to the kitchen while Lena found a small hand-held vacuum and ran it over the carpet.

Returning with a bag of chips Sam tore it open. “Spill,” she demanded and then hesitated, before laughing and shaking her head. Lena’s eye twitched.

“My mother was a Princess of Atlantis,” Lena said abruptly, realising that she’d never said that out loud before.

Sam was processing, a blank expression on her face.

“Atlantis…..as in?”

“Aquaman, Arthur, is my biological cousin. Our mothers are sisters.”

“Wow.” The apartment was quiet, bar the ticking of the clock and Lena counted out fourteen ticks before Sam put her hand in the bag of chips. She withdrew some and then held the bag out for Lena, who declined.

“Okay. Tell me everything.” She nodded slowly and smiled over at Lena, and she knew that in that moment everything was going to be okay. Sam was still here, she wasn’t freaking out, everything was going to fine. But then again, it did make sense, this was the woman who had a vengeful god inside her. She knew all about waking up someone different.

Lena took a deep breath and it all spilled out. How she had found the portrait and the letter, how she had gone to Ireland to find Bronte’s lawyers, how they had confirmed what she had guessed, that she was Bronte Kelly’s daughter.

Sam had gasped when she had told her how she had nearly drowned, and she didn’t leave anything out, she didn’t need to. Sam got it. Sam understood having a body do things beyond its capabilities.

“And he just… appeared out of the water?”

Lena nodded, leaning forward and taking some chips now that her stomach didn’t feel like it was playing jump-rope.

“Then I blanked out and woke up in _Atlantis_!” Her voice was hushed, muted awe as though she still couldn’t believe it, months later.

Sam was equally in awe. “That is so cool! What kind of powers do you have?”

Lena shrugged. “The same as Aquaman, I guess. I’m stronger, faster, more durable than humans. My endurance is through the roof, and I can breathe under water?”

“Ohmygod! This is…amazing, Lena.”

Slightly bemused at Sam’s tone Lena frowned.

“I always knew you were special,” Sam was smiling at her gently, heartfelt and warm. “Now you do too.”

Her eyes were watering. She must have gotten a shard of glass caught in them somehow.

“Thank you,” she said, reaching across the distance between them and Sam took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She didn’t have to say anything more. Lena had broken laws and almost ruined friendships in defence of Sam, she’d gone up against Supergirl and the government, and Sam appreciated every sacrifice Lena had made for her. She had been faced with understanding and faith and love every step of the way, the least she could do would be to offer it freely back to Lena.

“Does Kara know?” Sam tilted her head cautiously, clearly aware of the trigger for Lena breaking her wine-glass.

“We aren’t speaking,” Lena said, jaw working through the words.

Sam nodded slowly, processing. “Why?”

Lena hesitated. No matter how angry she was at Kara, and she was, hurt too, she wouldn’t out Kara as Supergirl, not even to Sam, who certainly could be trusted to keep such a secret.

“Is it because you found out about her…heritage?”

Lena’s eyes narrowed at Sam’s careful wording.

“How do you know?” She demanded, tone sharp before she winced. Sam wasn’t the subject of her ire and didn’t deserve being spoken to in such a way.

“I was a Kryptonian World Killer,” Sam said, shaking her head partially and grimacing away from the truth. “If I could be….Reign…. who else might be hiding something equally as large?”

Lena grunted, that made her feel even more stupid.

“I think… part of me…. Reign, I guess, could recognise it in her? I’m not sure,” Sam continued thoughtfully, looking absently at the wall. “I just saw her one day, in the suit, and I couldn’t unsee it.”

She hesitated, brows furrowing. “I’m sorry for not telling you but-“

“I’d never put you in that position,” Lena interrupted and knew it was the right thing to say by how Sam’s shoulders lowered in relief.

“Still. I am sorry.”

Lena could only shrug and toy with a stray thread on the pillow she’d clutched for comfort.

“Did she tell you?”

Lena shook her head as Sam winced. “Ouch.”

At Lena’s nod Sam asked, “And that’d be why you aren’t talking?”

“I hate being lied to, Sam, you know I do,” she said and could feel her frustration building, the calm she’d felt since she’d been with Ruby and Sam slowly fading as ire set back in.

“She just- every single day,” Lena threw her hands up before her, and then had to jerk forward for the pillow. Securing it with a few firm pats she looked over at Sam.

Her friend had a soft, understanding half smile on her lips, head ducked forward in earnest listening and Lena sighed.

“She lied to me. Every. Single. Day,” she paused. “And so did my-_her_,” she correct with a slight growl, “friends. I just- she made me a laughingstock. The Luthor who didn’t know. The Luthor who thought they were friends and was being used the entire time. Was it all just a game to her? Did she even mean any of it?”

“Now that is enough,” Sam demanded shortly, and Lena drew herself up in surprise.

Huh?

“I may not have known her for as long as you did, but that woman doesn’t have a cruel bone in her body.”

Lena nearly gaped. Sam was meant to be on her side! Why was she supporting Kara and her lies?!

“I can guarantee that she never meant to hurt you. It’s _Kara_,” Sam said earnestly, shifting in her position to move closer to Lena. With Lena’s permission she gave her a hug, pulling her in and keeping her secure in her hold.

“She didn’t have to tell you, just as you didn’t have to tell me about you. You did it because you wanted to.”

“Because I trust you,” Lena said dryly, trying not to pout like a child but not sure how successful she was.

“Lena,” Sam correctly gently, waiting until Lena tilted her head to look at her instead of the pillow. “She trusts you.”

“Then why didn’t she tell me?” Lena sighed the words, releasing her anger at the lie, instead freeing herself to feel all of the hurt. “I can’t think of any other reason than because I’m-“

She cut herself off. The truth was painful, a revelation she was reluctant to acknowledge. Was she cursed with a name and blood like the world seemed sure to make her believe? Would Arthur and Atlanna and Vulko and Diana see it in her, whatever the rest of the world saw to make them hate her so, and leave her eventually?

“I can’t speak for Kara,” Sam said, pressing a kiss to Lena’s hair and holding her tightly as Lena shook. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry. She wouldn’t give Kara the satisfaction.

“But I do know that I… I never wanted anyone to know about me and Reign, just like you did. There was a reason you kept me away from Supergirl until they burst into L-Corp. You didn’t trust her and the agency she worked for with me. With my identity. You knew they’d judge me for it.”

“I didn’t want them to hurt you. You were innocent!” Lena tensed and Sam had to squeeze her for the tension to drain again.

“I know. But you were protecting me.”

“Kara doesn’t need protecting from me,” Lena protested, a little lost and still hurting, aching with it.

“I know that,” Sam’s voice was gentle and soft. “And so does she.”

“Then why didn’t she tell me? If it wasn’t my name,” Lena spat out her name as though it were a curse, and in a way it was. But it was also her legacy, and when she wasn’t hurting so much, she’d acknowledge that. “Then it must have been-“

The realisation came to her, finally. If it wasn’t her name, then it must have been _her_. Not the Luthor but… Lena.

She let out a snort, biting back the painful emotions swirling in her chest. “Me,’ she finished slowly and sniffed. Her eyes were blurring, and her throat was tickling.

In her mind she could hear a voice, her mothers, telling her that she shouldn’t let a Super get the better of her, she shouldn’t let a Super make her cry.

“Listen to me, Lena Luthor,” Sam’s voice sharpened, and Lena looked at her with wide eyes. She’d never heard Sam use that tone of voice before. Never.

“You are a kind and generous and beautiful person. You constantly try to do right by the world, take the blame for your family’s mistakes, and give everything back. I never want to hear you speak of yourself in such a dismissive way. Do you hear me?”

Lena nodded, once, slightly frightened if she were to be honest.

Sam deflated, less angry momma and more of a cuddly kitten. “Good,” she said sharply as though the matter was settled.

“I know that, no matter what Kara’s reason for not telling you was, it has nothing to do with who you are as a person. It’s probably all about her.”

Lena frowned, curling into Sam’s easy affection as her friend continued slowly, clearly sounding out her own theories.

“She’s probably kept it a secret all her life… I bet only her family and friends know… does she have many friends?”

Lena gave it some thought. She only knew of James and a few people she worked with. Her brain started to fire. Who did Kara have in her life? There was Alex, obviously, her adoptive mother, her dead adoptive father, the Hank Henshaw double-the alien-, James, who was clearly there because of his association with Clark. She wondered if Kara had told James herself, or if he had already known. And maybe one or two of the people she worked with.

Lena let out a sigh.

“Maybe five, six people know who, and what, she is,” she offered to the silence.

“Except you,” Sam finished for her, Lena nodded.

“Maybe she needed that?”

Lena quietly processed Sam’s words. Who did Kara have for just Kara? The list was as small as Lena’s, she realised with painful a twinge in her chest. Kara was just as alone as Lena was… what a painful realisation. Supergirl had the adoration of millions but… she shared the love that Kara had. Supergirl had everyone and no-one, not really. Kara had the select few, the half dozen of close confidants, and most of those were due to circumstance and association. Alex and Eliza were obvious, they brought an alien into the family after all. Her work at the DEO would put her in touch with other aliens, the Director and the smart one. James… now that she thought about it almost certainly knew who Kara was before he went to National City, and was also a link back to Clark, so she’d be attached to him there. Did Kara choose anyone to be friends with or tell her secret to?

Oh. The realisation settled in her heart and partially eased the hurt there. She was still angry and no small amount of hurt, but….she could understand now. Sam had helped her.

As though sensing Lena’s recognition of how small a group that Kara belonged to, Sam gave her a final squeeze and kiss on the head. “I’ll go make up the guest room.”

Lena stared at the silent television as Sam gathered their dishes and the packet of chips-they’d eaten the lot. Guess talking about your feelings is hungry business.

Maybe, just maybe, Kara had kept Lena for her, not for Supergirl or for the alien girl pretending to be a human, pretending to be Kara Danvers, but for Kara, a mixture of both. Kara El or whatever her name was.

It still hurt, by God it still hurt, and she’d be hurt and angry for a while, but if that was the case then maybe she could understand. Maybe they could come back from this.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

“Fancy a game of darts?”

Lena glanced up from her pitcher, not glass, _pitcher_ of beer to look at her cousin. He had his hair tied back in a bun and had a black t-shirt and black jeans on. He’d shoved his feet into those silly shoes the young people wore, the ones that were loose and flopped on his feet as he walked. Skate shoes, Lena had thought upon seeing them, but wasn’t sure if she was right. When she wore shoes, she needed them to stay on her feet.

They’d settled in at a bar he frequented, in a little fishing village in somewhere far, far too away from civilisation for her liking, but she and Arthur emerged from the ocean to be greeted with smiles and fresh clothes and warm food.

It was a small tavern, inn, meeting place come restaurant, if Lena were to be the judge. There didn’t appear to be much else in the village, just some houses and one or two shops.

It was a little worn but had a lot of character and, though they were strangers, or she was, they were greeted with smiles and greetings. Arthur introduced her as his family, to which she blushed, and everyone was friendly and open.

The bar had a limited range of alcohol, and there was nothing like she was used to, and the smell of cooking came from back behind the bar, but it was cute and homey. It also had lots of nets, harpoons, a few taxidermied animals, and lots of photos of great fishing catches. There was an old radio on the bar too, occasionally cracking with static and conversation of fishermen out at sea.

They’d settled in for a round as Arthur enquired about her training with Vulko, and if she’d been okay with him asking Diana to come and see her.

“I thought you’d appreciate her rather than the supes on account of, ya know,” he’d said and given her a cheeky smile and a shrug. “He’s a self-righteous douche.”

Lena had nearly snorted. “He’s that,” she’d agreed and shared a grin with Arthur over the great mugs of ale placed before them. The conversation had flown freely after that, with Arthur being able to relate to her stories of learning of Atlantis to his own education. He even promised to show her a few tricks, learnt from his girlfriend, the Princess Mera. She had much better control over water, he’d said with a proud smile, but he’d tell her all he knew.

“We’re kind of medieval, I guess you’d say,” Arthur said as he picked his colours for the darts. “The Royalty and High-born can fight, and then each kingdom has their own army. Kind of like Game of Thrones, if you watch it.”

Lena nodded, though she wasn’t familiar with the show.

“From what I’ve read your history is a little…”

“Bloody?” Arthur asked, picking a dart, rolling it between his fingers and firing it at the board. He winced a little at his hit before folding his arms and leaning against the old barrel nearby that served as a table.

“I was going to say ‘rough’ but that too.”

“I suppose every culture has their own bloody pasts, some are bloody now,” Arthur said after some thought. “At the moment we are at peace, or at least not actively attacking each other.”

Lena summarised that being Ocean Master, A.K.A Ruler of the Sea, meant you tended to get what you wanted, and if the King of Atlantis wanted peace, peace he would get. Though it had taken a lot of blood to get there.

“Your weaponry is advanced,” she said carefully, picking a dart and throwing it. She wasn’t particularly good at sports but the dart hit with a solid thunk. Opps, maybe she needed to be a bit more careful with how hard she was throwing them.

“We developed it after we sank to the sea. We needed some way to kill each other. I guess that is the same for all species.”

Arthur threw his dart and Lena threw her next one before bringing up what she wanted to know.

“My vision is extraordinary,” she said, a little mindful of the people around them, but the locals weren’t paying them much attention. “I’m stronger and faster and my endurance is at a super-human level.”

“You aren’t. Human, I mean. You’re a half-breed, like me.”

“Am I bulletproof?” She wanted to know. It would certainly help if she knew just what her body was capable of, and Arthur was the one to ask. After all, he went around with a trident and fought monsters in the name of protection and peace.

“Yes and no,” he gave it some thought. “Our bodies are hardier and our skin is tougher.”

“Due to the immense levels of the ocean depth and the pressure there,” Lena summarised, and he gave a surprised nod.

“The right weaponry can hurt us; laser beams, immense blunt force trauma, massive falls, but for the most part bullets are an inconvenience and bigger weaponry, like grenade launchers and the like, is just a little bit of pain. We heal faster too.”

Lena nodded slowly.

So, she wasn’t all impervious to harm like the Kryptonian’s, her biology just meant that normal weaponry designed for human durability had a tough time dealing with her. Atlantean’s were evolved for the immense pressure and environment of the deepest parts of the ocean, it stood to reason then that she’d have an easier time of it away from those crushing forces.

“Surface metals can’t pierce our skin,” Arthur flicked his dart at the board and waited for her to throw her own. “But our own metals can.”

Lena hummed thoughtfully. She’d love to get her hands on some of it, or to go on a sort of fieldtrip to learn more about their science.

“I’d like to see some of it made, if I can,” she asked politely and he grinned at her.

“Of course! I’ll speak to Vulko and have-“

_‘Mayday! Mayday!’_

The little speaker on the bar crackled and a few fishmen looked to it.

_‘Mayday! Mayday!’_

Lena turned her head to the radio, seeing Arthur doing the same out the corner of her eye, as the voice called out coordinates, name of the ship, and what had happened.

There were answering replies, other fishing vessels nearby, even a research vessel.

Arthur turned to look at Lena as the bar, or maybe the entire town, Lena wasn’t quite sure, all turned to him.

She ducked her head a little with a shy smile. “If you don’t mind a tag along. I’d like to see what you do up close.”

Arthur grinned, grabbed his tankard and downed it. “You work with Supergirl,” he said slamming it on the table. “You know what we’re about. You’re one too.”

Lena shrugged. She’d never considered herself a hero, not like the larger than life figures like Wonder Woman, Superman and Supergirl, or even her cousin. She just tried to help people in the only way she could; using her mind and great wealth. She wasn’t one for the ‘hands-on’ hero business.

“This is Aquaman,” Arthur took the radio and spoke into it, to cheers around him. “I’ll be there soon.” He paused a moment. “And I’ll be bringing a friend.”

The radio chirped an affirmative, with a few vessels giving their location for the rescued fishermen, even a comment from a Navy vessel in the area.

He tossed the microphone back on the bar and grinned at her. “Shall we?”

Lena followed her cousins massive form, feeling a little like a puppy following a much older dog, like one of those videos Kara used to send her sometimes.

The water was warm and welcoming as they stepped into it, leaving their clothing for the fishing village and soon they were zooming through the ocean. She let Arthur guide them, and as they halted somewhere deep below the waters surface he told her to find the fishermen.

He told her to reach out and listen, feel what the ocean was saying.

It was silent, in their little floating bubble, but the water was bright with colour.

“Use your mind,” he told her, voice only partially muffled by the water and Lena wondered if there was some form of telepathy involved with the Atlantean’s, or maybe even some sonar sense. It made sense on an evolutionary scale.

Lena did as instructed and listened. She’d not had much luck trying this with Vulko, he said she wasn’t attuned to the world around her yet, it wasn’t a natural instinct, but he said it would come in time.

There were fish everywhere, a pod of whales, and even lonesome sharks. She could feel them.

She listened harder.

There!

She turned and sped off through the water. Though the ocean’s surface was in a turmoil, it was calm and peaceful at their depths and they slid through the water easily.

Arthur saw the boat first, pointing it out to her, and as they rose in the ocean she could see why it had used the Maday call. The ocean was furious. As the two launched themselves from the water ‘Hold your breathe. It’ll be easier,’ and up onto the boat, they were beat at by furious waves taller than they were.

Now Lena was out of the water, and standing above the vessel on the bow, she could see the fishing nets and buoys bunched up at the stern as it slowly sank. The fishermen were, wisely in their lifejackets, and were clinging to the sides of the boat, trying to reach the highest point.

Rain bet down on them, wrathful and vicious, but it fell off of Lena like gentle taps, and as lightening flashed in the air behind them, she caught their silhouettes. Arthur had taken up a pose, legs apart and head down, which he flicked back before jumping down onto the deck. He slid a bit, but balanced wonderfully. Lena was just standing there, looking half her cousins size, and she realised she should probably do something.

Deciding she really needed to be able to speak, she opened her mouth and inhaled. It wasn’t pleasant. Her lungs burnt for a while as she hacked up the sea water, replacing it with oxygen.

She didn’t jump down like Arthur did, instead she slid down the side and ducked over it, taking care not to let go least she slide down the boat like everything else.

“Do you have a life raft?” She yelled at the nearest fisherman and he was clutching the side of the boat by one of those docking irons. He wasn’t about to let it go, but he used his head to point her in the right direction.

Had she not been half-Atlantean, she may have had trouble picking her way over the fishing equipment that had spilled out of the cabin and crew quarters, but she managed it easily, taking a few large jumps before pulling her way into the cabin.

Arthur had a group of fishermen around him, and he was binding them all together with a rope he’d procured from somewhere, much to their discomfort.

“Where’s the life raft?” She demanded as she entered the living spaces. It was cramped and small, but seemed to have everything that was needed.

“Lost,” a man said, and he was pale under his tan. “It blew away.”

Lena nodded, well, that did make sense.

“_What do we do_?” She asked of Arthur in Atlantean. He paused a moment in his tying, maybe not used to the language, before responding.

“_Tie them together, take them across the surface_,” he grunted.

“_We’ll have to clear the waves to let them breathe_,” she pointed out and he nodded.

A thought struck her and she ducked back out into the rain.

If she could peel some of the steel back, she could make a raft of sorts. It would be easier for them to carry the fishermen over the storm if they were on something solid.

She clambered back up the side of the boat, over the top of the cabin and living area and then appraised the metal. It was curved, which wasn’t ideal, but she could probably make a scoop of sorts, or bend the metal sheets over one another so it was more-flat.

She bent her arm back and drove her hand through the metal, its slid through as easy as though it were softened butter. Grinning in success, and ignoring how the rain immediately started to fill up the empty shell of the hull, she pulled the panel back, it screeched as she did so, rivets popping off and tearing. Soon she had two misshapen panels of steel and she tilted the edges around, flattening them in the middle to form a dish.

She darted back over the hull and lifted the tray as Arthur escorted the fishermen out, and he’d collected a few more while she’d been busy.

“Here!” She shouted, lifting the dish and Arthur nodded.

They’d be able to cart them through the water, taking turns launching them above the waves if necessary.

“Let’s go,” Arthur ordered and caught the dish Lena tossed at him. “On you get.”

Begrudgingly the fishermen got into the dish. It was a little cramped for them and they didn’t like it all that much, but soon they were all bundled together and clinging to the dish.

“Let’s go. On three.”

Lena braced herself and then the two of them took a side of the dish and they launched themselves into the air and then into the ocean. They were able to cart the fishermen above the waves, almost leaping from each point to the next, sort of like dolphins, until the ocean grew calmer. Lena let Arthur take care of it, slipping into the waves to watch him.

He lifted the tray above his head, inhaling the water and then he kicked out with his feet. Lena blinked after him, left in his wake and she had to shake herself before zooming after him. They weren’t able to travel as fast as they normally would, on account of having to travel partially above the water, but they still made it to the nearest boat, a fishing vessel who was already responding to the mayday call, within a few minutes.

Lena surfaced in the dark, keeping back from the way the lights tried to encroach on the inky blackness of the ocean and sky.

Arthur just leapt from the water, launching himself and the fishermen from the ocean and onto the boat. Lena hesitated and then jumped in after him, landing on the corner, and bracing herself with a foot on each part.

Arthur landed lighter than she did, bracing the weight above his head, and then lowering it gently. There were shouts of surprise and then the boat slowed, not suddenly as that would make it lurch far too much, but slowly, and by the time it came to a halt the fishermen were coming out to see them. Medical kits were placed on the ground as the crew, also wearing life-jackets Lena was pleased to note, brought out emergency blankets, spare clothes, and steaming travel mugs with, soup maybe, and Lena was suddenly hungry.

“The boat went down,” Arthur said as he stepped away from the fishermen, taking a mug handed to him and then directing his hand at Lena.

“We can drop it off,” he tilted his head back and swallowed the contents while the fishermen looked to Lena. She was thankful her hair was down and around her face, giving her the appearance of a drowned rat, but she still took care to duck her head so they couldn’t recognise her.

“Do you have a port?”

The fishermen gave the location after a call to the coastguard, and soon she and Arthur were diving back into the ocean.

She’d held her breath the entire time, or rather held her water, so she didn’t have to inhale it on their re-entry, and she was glad. Arthur spluttered a moment as the oxygen left his lungs and was replaced with sea-water.

“Want to cart a boat through the ocean?”

Lena thought about it a moment before nodding. She’d rather not leave it at the bottom of the ocean, she’d seen that the ocean bore much of the greed and indifference of the surface and didn’t want to add to it.

They zoomed to the spot. It had been taken by sea, as all things would eventually be, and the water around it was dirty and hard to navigate and see in. Bits of fishing equipment had fallen, and was bobbing on the currents like some sort of veil, but she could already see bits of plastic and dead fish caught in it. It reminded her oddly like a spiders web, deadly, but not with the beauty of silk.

She immediately started to wind up the nets, grabbing bits of floating fishing equipment as she did while Arthur looked over the vessel with a practiced eye. She wondered what he was looking for and soon he told her.

“If we hold it here, here and,” he swam around the side of the vessel, “here. It’s at least risk of falling apart.”

Ah. Structural integrity, she probably could have figured that out for herself but she was new to this whole ‘hero-ing’ business. She wasn’t sure where to start.

A thought hit her.

“Have you been in the titanic?”

Arthur was quiet a moment, and she could see his slightly twisted expression before he gave a slow, sharp nod.

“And?” She asked him after a few moments of silence.

“The dead are best left to rest,” he rumbled after a long while.

While Lena knew that, and understood the reasons behind it, it didn’t sit all that well with her.

“Did your people-“ she hesitated and cut herself off. “Did they know? Do they always know?”

“Sometimes,” Arthur said and he sat on the hull, looking at her sadly. “It is not our pla-“

“Then who’s is it?” Lena demanded, suddenly angry. If the Atlantean’s knew of all ship sinking’s, then they could save hundreds, if not thousands of lives over the centuries.

“Don’t be naive,” Arthur said, suddenly sharp and angry and she cut off her tirade in surprise.

“We don’t get involved in the surface world. We out number them, we out muscle them, and we out gun them. If they pick a fight, it is a fight they will lose.”

“Don’t talk to me like a child, Arthur!” She bit back, just as harshly before taking a steadying breath. “I know the logistics of it. I just…. How can you stand by and do nothing?”

“We don’t,” he said, suddenly gentle in the gruff way of his.

“I don’t. We,” he pointed between the two of them, and the sand cloud was starting to settle. “Don’t. You’ve worked with Supergirl and her allies, with aliens, you’ve seen how they are treated. Humans treat the ‘other’ unfairly and with prejudice, even among their own kind. What do you think they would do if they knew an entire Empire lay at the bottom of the sea, superior in every way?”

Arthur sighed and rubbed his beard. “We don’t know about ocean accidents until its too late, but we help when we can.” He gave her a sudden grin. “Where do you think the tales of mermaids came from?”

Lena nodded slowly. “I get it, I do, Arthur. I just… wish we could do more.”

“People like you, me, Diana, the Supers’, even the Bat,” Arthur said gravely, “most people don’t fear us because we are so few in number.”

“People are still afraid,” Lena pointed out, thinking to her own family and their actions.

“People are stupid.”

Arthur jerked his thumb at the ship. “Shall we?”

Conversation over Lena took part of the ship and joined Arthur in carting it across the sea. It was light, ridiculously so, and soon they were tossing it on the beach. She was glad there weren’t many people around, it would have been a curious sight; two people carrying a boat on their heads out of the ocean and leaving it on the sand.

“You can’t save them all,” Arthur said, once he had cleared his lungs.

“No, but that doesn’t mean you should live in fear either.”

Arthur gave her a wry smile. “Come by Atlantis next week. I’ll have something for you.”

He clapped her on the shoulder and gave her another grin. “See ya, Couz.”

“Bye,” Lena muttered, watching him go and feeling water drip from her body onto the sand.

There was a group of people coming down the beach, curious in the way of humans, and Lena nodded to herself.

Time to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd we're half way there :D HMU about Kara/SG or even Sam or Arthur.


	10. Chapter 10

“What are you working on?”

It was four days later and Lena was in her private lab in her apartment looking over her array of monitors.

“Nanobots,” she pulled away from her telescope to answer Diana before looking down the lens again.

“When Jack died, I purchased Biomax and converted it to L-Corp’s Nanotech division. Now,” she pulled back away and tapped on her keyboard a few times. “I’m going to make them out of Nth Metal and Atlantean Steel.”

“Are you making a suit…Aquawoman?”

Lena stiffened and slowly twisted to face Diana. She was leaning against the wall, arms folded and slight smirk on her face. She also had a paper in her hand, foreign, and the picture on the front was blurry, but Lena knew what it was. The world knew what it was. Aquaman and a companion temporarily dubbed Aquawoman, carrying a ship out of the ocean. There were also testimonies of fishermen who had been saved by them both.

“Thinking about doing a hero stint?”

“No,” Lena replied instantly. “Not now, not ever. I’m not going to put on a Halloween costume and go around looking for people to beat up.”

She winced as she finished, apologetic but Diana didn’t seem to mind. “Only human based ‘heroes’ do that. Because we are physically superior, we,” she gestured between them both with the paper, “don’t bother with all that nonsense. The humans we subdue are subdued without little trouble. It’s the non-human or enhanced humans that cause problems.” Diana’s brow furrowed slightly, and she tilted her head.

“You don’t want to be a hero?”

Lena nearly snorted. “Not really. I have more important things to do than run around at night and go looking for trouble.”

Diana’s smile was knowing. “You’re taking your former boyfriends’ side of it.”

Lena’s lip twitched. James. Guardian. She was still bitter about it; not that he wanted to help people, though he could have helped people in more ways rather than going around in a metal can and beating people up, but that he chose to go about it in a way that did more harm than good. He could have reached more people, had more of an impact, if he had led CatCo, _her_ company, like Cat Grant had, using the media to change the world and influence it. She was also angry about the whole ‘abuse your trust and break into your vault for Supergirl’ thing, even though he had come clean. She was mostly angry about how he had reacted once she had spoken to the DA to ensure he wasn’t charged with a whole manner of crimes. He had been…. Almost irrationally angry about it, that she had made sure that he wasn’t going to go to jail. It hadn’t been fair.

Breaking up with him had been for the better, she was certain of it. She had cared for him, it was hard not to. He was a great guy, but he wasn’t the right guy for her. And with their complicated history and his own untreated trauma, it was better that they remain…. Tentative friends… if Lena ever went back to being friends with Kara, Alex, and the whole gang.

“We do more than that,” Diana said gently, and she placed the paper on the table as she came to stand behind Lena.

“We fight things that the police, and military,” Diana added with a little nod, “cannot. And we also encourage others.”

Lena looked up at her silently. She knew the whole ‘hero’ spiel. She’d heard Kara say it, she’d heard Clark say it, and she’d hear Lex scoff at the notion of someone with so much power choosing to serve so ‘selflessly’. They got something out of it, Lex had insisted. They had to, why else would they do what they did? He had thought it was about worship, about winning over the people through inhuman displays of power, he had then thought it was about fear, to rule by it.

Lena thought differently. She had seen people with power determined to help in the only way they could, with their strength. But Lena had learnt that they did have other power, more, perhaps, than what they could do alone with their ‘muscles’. 

She could see why James wanted to be one, surrounded by ‘Gods’ and wanting to be their equal, but the problem was, he wasn’t. The only thing that he could have done, where he had power, was in the people, in the press, in the media. But unfortunately for him, they were too. It was hard for anyone to compete, it made sense why he had used his power in the press to elevate his heroic acts as Guardian, he had wanted some of that recognition.

Part of Lena had thought it, not James in particular, but the few people popping up here and there in ‘defence’ of their own cities. They wanted an excuse to hurt people, to hurt people that were out doing, in their opinion, bad things. In their minds, they deserved to be hurt.

Lena had thought, before she realised she was one herself, that those with power should help other people, and not in the way she had. Lena had money and a keen business sense, she was pretty, intelligent, and quick witted, wherever she went she drew eyes, for good or ill, and if she put her name and face to something it increased in popularity. She went to charity after charity for that very purpose. Heck, even after her lunch not-dates with Kara, the places they had gone to had an increase in popularity from her presence. She was a powerhouse, she knew that, and she used it to help people.

But she had always thought that those with actual power, people like the Super’s and meta-humans and even Aliens, should use it to help everyday people… until she had realised what it would cost her. She blended, white, pretty and wealthy, with a well-known name. Lena Luthor was only a human, a human with lots of money and intelligence, but still just a human. If anyone ever connected her to anything….inhuman…. well, she’d be protected. Her wealth and intellect and the power of her blood and name would keep her safe. Other people didn’t have that safety net…. And yet some of them didn’t care. They went out and tried to help anyway.

She couldn’t begrudge them that, and knew why Cat Grant hadn’t shown Kara’s face to the world because she believed in her, in what Kara represented, more so than her cousin. And Lena had always liked Supergirl more than Superman, she even had a better catch phrase, she wanted to protect everyone and everything, not just ‘Truth. Justice. And the American Way!’ She had to fight her eye-roll every time she heard or saw that. Kara fought for injustice, even when it put her against the humans who adored her because she looked like them, even if her actions proved she wasn’t. She was a hero in every sense of the word.

She got involved because she could, because she could no longer stand by and not do anything to help, and she helped in more ways than her fists. She was a spokesperson for anti-bullying campaigns, a patron of peace and justice for everyone, regardless of planet of birth (or last name) and she stood by the people she believed in, without shame. Few people could say as much. Diana was much the same, fighting for those who could not.

Lena didn’t have that in her, that selfless act, she’d given, and had taken, too much of herself to the world to willingly offer even more of herself, especially if she did it with her own face. She had nothing left to give them, especially nothing so personal and private. Her money and presence and intellect she could give to the world, but anything else was hers alone.

“You did not have to aid Arthur last week,” Diana added as she stepped into the room and her attention was caught by a stand near the wall. “This is new.”

“A gift,” Lena glanced over at the glass case, locked with biometric scans, and holding her new Atlantean trident.

She had gone back to Atlantis earlier in the week at Arthur’s request and he had presented her with her weapon, a trident, the weapon of royalty. There was talk of a ceremony, a big one, where she would be presented to the people of Atlantis as their Princess, but….. Vulko had talked to Atlanna and the Queen had kept that quiet. Lena wasn’t sure what the Atlantean’s knew about her, but she wasn’t sure she wanted a big ‘debutant’ ceremony. Arthur had instead given it to her in private, under the eyes of the other King’s and Queen’s of the Atlantean Empire, who, she had learnt, we rulers of their own Kingdom’s but subservient to Arthur as the King of Atlantis and Ocean Master. Her cousin, being of Atlantis and King, was the most powerful of the King’s, but because he was Ocean Master and had the Trident of Atlan, he was the supreme ruler, kind of like a High King.

Lena was still learning how it worked, but each of the royals had welcomed her back to them with an intimate feast and tales of their own ancestors. They were a proud people, and Lena had enjoyed hearing of their people and stories.

Accepting the Trident had been expected of her, and she had marvelled at it as she had taken it home with her. It had been a promise. Of her place in Atlantis and with Arthur, Atlanna and Mera. Of a family under the sea. It had also been a promise of her own, to continue to learn about her heritage.

Lena knew she wasn’t being asked to choose, didn’t know what she would choose if she had to, but knew that Arthur wouldn’t make her. He was like her, of the two worlds, and they formed who they were. To cut yourself off from one or the other wasn’t healthy.

“May I?”

Lena rose to her feet and walked over to unlock the case and let the trident out. She could feel its power in her hands, the strength to it.

It was light, lighter than she had thought it would be, but she had examined it and discovered that Atlantean Steel was stronger, lighter and more flexible than almost any other metal of earth. The only thing stronger was Nnth Metal, but when tested she’d found it more rigid than Atlantean Steel so she had thought she could somehow combine the two; the sheer strength of the Nnth metal, and the flexibility of the Atlantean Steel.

Diana took it out into the centre of the room, carefully judging the distances around her before spinning it around her in a figure eight.

“Very nice,” she said after a few twirls, the whoosh of the weapon slicing through the air.

“Apparently I’ll be able to form an impenetrable water shield with it,” Lena commented, returning to her computer chair as the completion bar on the monitor neared the end.

“You’ll have to learn how to use it first,” Diana, said with a smile and twirled it a few more times and then returned it to the case, closing the door carefully. It beeped when it locked.

“I know how to fight,” Lena commented, attention mostly on her computer.

Wonder Woman would never do something as ungraceful as snort, but the sound she made was close enough. “Training with me for a few weeks does not a warrior make, Lena,” she chastised gently and Lena slowly turned from her computer.

“I know how to fight.”

Diana met her eyes for a moment, eyes searching and Lena could almost see her slowly putting the pieces together.

“Lex preferred modern weaponry, machines of destruction,” Lena said finally, “but I never liked it. It was too….”

“Easy,” understanding was dawning in Diana’s eyes.

“Exactly,” Lena said with a little nod. “I never wanted to-want- to hurt people, but if I was going to, I was going to look in their eyes, and fight them as a person, see them as a person…. Kill them as a person…. And not a silhouette or even a number on a screen.”

“You don’t Fence, do you?” Diana enquired, turning her head partially into her shoulder as though cringing from the answer.

Lena let out a little laugh. “No,” she assured her with a smile. “I haven’t had much time for it lately, but when I lived in Metropolis I frequently attended HEMA Metropolis.”

A slow, surprised smile was crossing Diana’s face. “You never said,” she accused, sounding delighted.

Lena let out a little shrug. “Hand and a half sword mostly, nothing like that,” she nodded to the trident. “I was never very good with staff work.”

If possible Diana’s smile was even wider. “You must show me.”

“In the morning,” she agreed with a slight nod. “I think I have a kit that will fit you… or not,” she said when Diana rolled her eyes fondly. “Steel isn’t much of a match for celestial durability.”

“If you managed to hit me,” Diana jeered playfully before laughing. “But really, I would have enjoyed sparing with you.”

“A CEO has to act and look a specific way,” Lena offered wistfully. “I could hardly show up with bruises the size of an apple to a business meeting.”

Diana looked forlorn. “I am sorry.”

She was quiet a moment. “I promise to go easy on you.”

Lena let a slow smile cross her face and there was a beeping from the monitor behind her. “You may regret that.”

Lena spun back to her computer and read the status reports quickly.

“I will let you go back to work.”

Lena cast a glance back to Diana, suddenly apologetic. “I’m sorry,” she winced. “I’m being a terrible host, aren’t I?”

“You are busy, Dear One,” Diana replied gently. “I can entertain myself until morning, but then,” she grinned, “I will see your sword for myself.”

Lena gave her a nod and turned back to her computer, at the spider looking creature on her screen, muttering “I’ve one or two in the drawers in my room.”

Diana’s delighted laugh punctuated her exit and Lena smiled to herself before she returned to her design.

When she and Jack had been teenagers they had developed the Nanobots for purely medical purposes, to build and repair broken tissue, skin, even bone. The idea was to hopefully, one day, find a way to have them destroy cancerous cells, eliminating the disease entirely, but that had been down the track, once they figured out how to control them properly.

Jack had figured it out when she had been called back to Luthor Corp, and she could only regret that she hadn’t been there with him. Letting him die, when Beth had been controlling him, had been one of the hardest things she had ever done, but it had been the right thing to do, no matter how his family had hated her for it, or how the guilt and loss had threatened to consume her. She had bought BioMax in his name, vowing, if only to her memory of him, that she would see their dream come to life, that she would complete BioMax and repair the world for him. And she would…. She’d just like to live long enough to see that happen.

And really, she was a Luthor…. She had the technology at her fingertips and she hadn’t been using it. She could literally build anything she could imagine with them, and they were just waiting, an unrealised dream.

Recent events, more than others, had made her realise that she needed to be even more pro-active in her own protection, and the protection of the people around her. Human security, and even alien security should she hire any who might want to work for her, couldn’t stand up to the threats Lena faced, and she was tired of relying on others to save her. The fact that it was Kara doing most of the saving was something that Lena was reluctant to acknowledge, she didn’t want to see Kara and she certainly didn’t want to have her save her. She’d save herself, thank you very much.

Her initial design was based off of spiders, using Nnth metal, but with discovering her heritage she had wondered if the Atlantean metal was superior. She had given a sample, with Arthur’s permission, to her lab and asked them to run tests on it. They knew better than to ask her where she had gotten it, in fact they probably thought she had made it- it wouldn’t be the first time- and they had given her the results soon afterwards. The metal itself was like earth metal, only it was superior in every way, it was even stronger than many alien metals, the only substance stronger had been Nnth metal. But under testing the Atlantean Steel had come out ahead in one aspect, its flexibility. The Nnth metal was stronger, undoubtedly, but it couldn’t take the beating of the Atlantean Steel, and especially not from Atlantean Steel. So, she decided to follow an old trick, one she’d used herself in the past, on the very sword she’d been speaking about with Diana.

Swordsmith’s in the past had used two metals, the stronger steel as the core of the blade, surrounded by a weaker steel that could take the impact. Lena would design her nanobots like that, with the strongest core to hold it and then with the most flexible outer shell, the best of both worlds.

She’d been careful with her designs, running algorithms on each option, designing different nanobots for different tasks, but the most successful one, under simulation, had been the basic design. She was favouring generalisation over specialisation. It may not be the best for every situation, but for the average situations she would encounter, and had encountered, utility was best. A Jack of All Trades as it was. Master of None but better than Master of One.

In her reading of Jack’s research, and the progress he had made since she had been with him every step of the way, she knew that she’d need at least a few million robots to test out, and there was the pesky side-affects of bonding and then free will.

Her scientists, all very, very carefully selected, had also had some trouble with them, but Lena had had a lot of time to think while she took temporary leave of L-Corp, and after she’d sold CatCo, so she’d come up with a solution for it. She’d made sure it was safe, and she wasn’t about to be putting them in her body, or at least not yet. She didn’t need them in her, she just needed them with her. She could hardly walk away from a gun fight without a scratch and holes in her clothing, she had far too many eyes on her for that, it was a surprise and pure luck, that someone hadn’t succeeded yet.

All she needed was a red dot on her forehead at a press conference and then for the bullet to bounce off. That’d go down well with the world. At least if she got her nanotech working she could blame it on that…. Transparent bulletproof false skin or something, rather than ‘oh hey, by the way, I’m a half breed mermaid and Atlantais exists and Aquaman is my cousin’ explanation. Not that she would. She owed the world nothing. Still, much easier to explain.

She made a mental note to place a hundred and two safe guards for her tech. If she could build anything with her mind, as long as she had the nanobots, she did not want it getting out that she could, and she certainly didn’t want anyone else getting ideas.

A few clicks and she was sending her design for production, she’d start small, a half million bots ought to do it. She’d make sure they worked before building more. A smart businesswoman made sure the business model worked before pouring millions of dollars into a project, and Lena was a smart businesswoman.

Satisfied, and ensuring her security protocols were up, she wandered back into the apartment. There was a low hum from the television and she emerged into the living room to see Diana sprawled on the couch, somehow making it look graceful as she sipped wine and nibbled on chocolate.

On the television a small woman with a severe bob and glasses was going on about- Lena narrowed her eyes at the television- super….models? Huh. She wasn’t being very complimentary.

“Whatcha watching?”

Diana lifted a glass from the coffee table and poured her a generous glass.

“The Incredibles,” she answered as she handed her the wine and Lena nodded in thanks, taking a sip and sighing.

“Mh, what is this?”

“Dionysius’ wine.”

Lena hesitated on her next sip, eyes narrowing in thought. “Is this the one you helped me drunk on?” She asked suspiciously, glaring at the wine as though it would jump down her throat and send heat back through her veins.

“The same. Savour it.”

Lena eyed it a moment and then decided that she’d drunk far too much the night Diana took her out, and she wasn’t going to mix drinks, so she should be safe.

“It’s delicious,” she agreed and settled back on the couch. “What’s the plot line?”

Diana glanced from her to the movie and back and then quickly gave her a run down.

It sounded…. Interesting and so she grabbed a few chocolates and settled in to watch.

She muttered a few comments about the technology to herself, and made a few mental notes to look into some of the real-world applications for one or two of the tech, but mostly she just watched. It was….nt awful and seemed far more real than some of the live-action Superhero stories that were popping up, great god-like characters…. Based on, of course, America’s beloved aliens, though Greek God’s had featured in many a movie, and even some Egyptian ones.

“What killed your ancestors?” Lena asked as Mr Incredible was creeping across a bridge towards a large monitor. Diana went still and Lena thought that, perhaps, the wine had gone to her head again.

“War,” Diana said simply after a few moments and could hear the loss and longing conveyed in the single word. She didn’t need to ask anything, and sensed that Diana wasn’t willing to share any more, but had a feeling it must be lonely to be the only one and she slowly reached out, offering her hand, palm up, if Diana wanted it.

She took it, hand warm and callused and strong, and Lena held it tightly within her own, words failing before the magnitude of the loss that Diana faced, the loneliness, the desolation of being completely alone, with only her memories and myths. The hero-type didn’t have many friends, and it must have been even worse for an immortal like Diana, having to stand by and watch as any mortal she came to love succumbed to time and then to death as she remained untouched by it. You’d become jaded surely, spending decades watching the world move on without you.

On the screen a guy with bright orange hair was jeering at Mr Incredible and Lena was struck by how strong Diana was. She kept going, she kept loving and caring and being there, present in the world, as part of it, even though it would change and fade and die around her, things would fade and die and then reborn, and she’d stay the same. It was a lonely existence, a solitary one. Lena wasn’t sure if she would have the strength to carry on.

She gave Diana’s hand another squeeze hoping to somehow convey how in awe she was of Diana’s courage and strength and how she was here now, and she’d be here for Diana as long as she could. She wasn’t sure Diana got the message, but she returned the squeeze all the same.

“The masks are stupid,” Lena commented as the movie ended, with the entire family putting on eye bands. It was like they were covering the area around their eyes with eye-shadow, it wouldn’t conceal their identity at all.

Diana let out a little laugh but couldn’t disagree.

“I don’t wear a mask,” she added.

“You have a genius billionaire making sure no-one gets a good photo of you and runs it through facial recognition software. As lovely as you are to look at,” Lena added, and really it was the wine, “I’d feel better if you at least tried to cover your face, or wear some sort of disguise.”

Diana laughed again, rich and full and Lena set her glass of wine down as the sound hit her somewhere in the chest and crept into her blood. That fucking Greek God of Wine.

“I would not be trusted if I did that, and I do not wish to hide.”

“People could find you and hurt-“

“Hurt the people I care about?” Diana’s smile was bitter and twisted, somehow making her achingly beautiful for it. “I have no one left, they can’t hurt me.”

Her eyes were glassy, filled with tears that would never spill and Lena scooted over on the couch, settling against Diana and laying her head on her shoulder.

“I don’t wear a mask because I am one of the most powerful beings on the planet. I can’t hide, because if I do, they will think I have something to hide, and they won’t trust me.”

She brought her arm around Lena, letting out a little sigh at the contact and Diana was warm and soft and smelt good. Lena curled in closer, wondering if the goddess needed the contact like Lena did. They were both similar but different.

Diana was a loner because she was alone in the world, with only memories of her home, and myths of her ancestors. She had to watch as the humans around her grew old and weak and faded while she remained as she was, a Greek statue, untouched by time. Lena was alone in her tower, not by her own choice, but by the sins of her blood and by the fear and contempt of the people around her. She, at least, had found a family, or she had thought she had.

“I’m here,” Lena said softly, face pressing against the warm cotton pyjama top Diana had changed into, still stupidly, impossibly beautiful even with little ducks on the soft blue fabric. “I’m glad Arthur asked you to come and see me.”

Diana pulled her closer, letting out a long breath and Lena pulled back slightly, not getting very far, as Diana shifted on the couch and gently tugged her down with her.

Her legs kicked up and out on the couch and Lena shifted around her, following the unspoken request until they were pressed together. The intimacy of the position wasn’t lost on her.

She wasn’t fully on Diana, but she was close to it, curled half onto the superhero and pressed into the scant gap between Diana and the back of the couch

Lena hesitated, using her legs to pull back a little to stare down at Diana. Brown eyes glowed, warm and golden, in the light from the television and coming in through the open blinds.

Slowly Lena lay her head back on Diana’s chest, feeling soft skin under her cheek from where Diana’s shirt had parted. It wasn’t indecent, if anything it was innocent, and Diana’s arms were gentle as they came around her with a soft sigh.

Lena nuzzled closer. It was nice, nicer than nice if she were to be honest, being held by Diana, who was warm and soft and smelt sooo good, with tendrils of familiar heat curling through her body almost lazily.

“Mh.” Shifting closer still, pressing herself into Diana’s warmth, Lena let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Long fingers caressed her skin with a gentle, featherlike touch, one hand creeping up her back and to her hair, where her scalp was massaged gently. Letting out a ‘mrph’ of pleasure she let herself go boneless, feeling Diana’s chuckle rumble in her chest, but Diana didn’t stop, and Lena wasn’t about to ask her too.

It could have been weird, it could have been romantic, instead it felt innocent. The warmth curling in her body softened and turned lazy and sluggish, content and she let herself drift into the quiet comfort Diana was providing. It had been a while since she had been held like this, even with James and Jack, their presence had been…. Restraining in a way, an expectation and hesitance to the way they held her. Jack had held her, and looked at her, as though she were not real, as though if he touched her to strongly she’d disappear. James had held her as though she needed protecting, looked at her as though she needed someone to tell her what was right and wrong, as though she needed a guide. The differences between the people she had loved were clear, she wondered as she fell into sleep.

She’d loved Jack with the naivety of youth and the excitement of first love, when you think its going to last forever. They hadn’t worked because they hadn’t know who they were, then, and because she hadn’t been willing to give up L-Corp without a fight, and he hadn’t understood, wanting to save the world and not wait for her. He had let her go.

James was different. Strong and determined, driven to protect and serve like the gods he had surrounded himself with. He shone the light on them, or rather caught it and showed it to the world. He saw himself as the one to share that light, to be a light, to be a hero and to protect her. James had thought he could shine Lena’s own light when what she had wanted was an equal, not a guide. He had driven her away.

Supergirl was unlike the others. She was an idea, an ideal, a symbol. Strong and fierce and determined. She looked at the Luthor and saw an opportunity, someone who was like her, an equal, though not a friend. At best they were allies, wanting the same thing but willing to go about it differently. Supergirl hadn’t _seen_ her, not really, she’d seen Lena and then Lena _Luthor_, without merging the two into one, when Lena was both Lena Luthor. She had rejected her.

Kara was something else. Kara who had looked her in the eye as she asked for a chance, Kara who had believed in her when the world fell apart, who had stood next to her and encouraged her to shine. Kara had told her that she mattered, that Lena could do what no one else could, that Lena could save the world. She could love and be loved equally, that she was worthy of it, just by virtue of being. Kara was the one that wasn’t.

She wondered, as Diana coaxed her to sleep with soft, rhythmic scratching of her scalp, what that made Lena. Was she the one that got away? Or the one that wasn’t worthy?


	11. Chapter 11

“I am out of practice,” Lena warned Diana as she took up position opposite the goddess. They had gone out for a run, and on the return to her apartment had gone to the ground floor and set themselves up. Lena’s apartment complex was built on an entire block, with a garden in the middle and a pool in the centre of it. It was massive, housing hundreds of tenants, and it was built out of four towers on each corner of the block, with a gap in between them all for a small park where children sometimes played sports or tenants walked their dogs.

Today they were treated to something unique. Two women had swords and were facing each other like they were in a film.

They weren’t in armour, it wasn’t like a scene out of a medieval picture book, instead they were in under armour and Nike, with their faces a little red from exertion.

“I said I’d go easy on you, didn’t I?” Diana grinned, and Lena nearly groaned again. The woman was, surprise-surprise, a fan of exercise and had thoroughly enjoyed their jog down to the actual park a few blocks from Lena’s apartment, and around it _twice_, before jogging back. Diana had barely broken a sweat while Lena was sure she looked like a drowned rat.

“Ready?”

Lena lifted her sword in salute, and settled back into a guard position. It had been a long while since she’d duelled, and her muscles had pulled when she had gone through her warm up drills- following though the blocks and attacks with the sword in each guard position. Diana had at least been pleased she knew which ones were which, which was perhaps why she was cautious as she swept in for a blow to Lena’s unguarded left shoulder.

It was easy enough for Lena to bring her sword around in an arc and block it. Though the movement had been slow, her body still jarred at the force behind it.

If she hadn’t known she was strong and more durable, she’d request they use padding, but Diana was skilled enough to control herself, and Lena wasn’t worried she’d hurt her, so she pushed the sword away, catching it on her quillions and bringing it back up at Diana.

Wonder Woman blocked the blow and Lena pressed forward, slowly exerting her strength and feeling Diana match it. She grinned, smile feral, and Lena wondered if perhaps Diana was not Artemis of the Hunt, or even Athena, warrior goddess instead of the Daughter of Zeus.

Diana whipped her blade out and around and Lena had to twist her body to the side to avoid it.

They paused a moment as they assessed each other, and paid the people stopping to stare at them no mind. If they took photos and uploaded them to social media, well, Lena would take care of it later, unless Bruce Wayne did. She’d have to speak with him at some stage.

Lena was not one to wait for attacks to come to her, and she went on the offensive, body remembering drills and slipping into familiar patterns. Diana matched her stroke for stroke, and their swords clung with each strike. Soon Lena was grinning.

She had rarely found a sparring partner to match her in Metropolis, she was, in the words of her club members, ‘too fast and strong’ for most of them, and now she knew why, so it was a delight to fight someone who was her equal, of not her better. Diana was far superior in skill and experience, and soon it became obvious to Lena that she was thoroughly outmatched, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t enjoying herself. She could sense Diana holding back, and while she appreciated it, she wasn’t raised to be coddled, she would win or lose under her own power, with her opponents giving their all, how else would she know what she was capable of and how else could she improve?

Eventually she was defeated, Diana snaking her blade underneath Lena’s in a feint, and spinning it from her hand. It went clattering to the ground and Lena stumbled back, panting but grinning.

Diana was beaming as well, and now she had broken into sweat and Lena was proud of that, even as she looked fresh and energetic. Part of her wondered just how much exertion it would take for Diana to really feel it.

“You _can_ fight!” Her teeth flashed as she lowered her sword and bent down to pick up Lena’s. “You are out of shape,” she said with reproach and gave a decisive nod. “We will have to do this daily!”

Lena took several long pulls from her water bottle, draining it. “I spend ten hours behind a desk.”

Diana wasn’t taking no for an answer, clearly she was on a roll and Lena bemoaned the state of her body for the foreseeable future. She wasn’t sure she could keep up with the fitness regimen of a god, but Diana was…more enthusiastic than Lena had seen her.

“We can start with a jog around the park, do some hand-to-hand, resistance training, then we can spar, and we can finish up with some yoga.”

“This is gonna be fun!” Lena let herself be guided by hurricane Diana out of the little apartment park and up into the building. A man in a suit, hesitant but determined, approached them as they entered the elevator.

“Excuse me Miss-“ he cut himself off abruptly. “Miss Luthor!” His wide eyes darted between the two of them, and Lena knew she wasn’t his focus. Diana looked every inch the god she was as she leant against the elevator car wall.

“I um,” he swallowed and straightened under Lena’s arched eyebrow.

“Yes, Darren?” A quick check of his name tag and he flushed.

“Miss Luthor. In the future, would you please warn security you are planning on having a sword fight in the garden? Some of the tenants were…concerned.”

Ah. Opps. “Apologies, Darren. An oversight on my part. It won’t happen again.”

He ducked his head in a bow, went red, and then bolted as the doors closed.

Lena waited until they were rising up into the apartment building before allowing herself to glance at Diana.

They broke into mutual giggles and, for the first time in a while, sweaty and sore and tired, Lena was happy. There was really only one thing missing. Her best friend.

~*~

“I come bearing gifts,” Diana smirked from the door to Lena’s office, a take out bag dangling from one hand and steaming cups in the other. Lena glanced at the bag and then at the woman bringing it.

“Please tell me that’s my favourite coffee,” she pushed away from her computer, clicking around the desk to the couch where Diana was already placing their lunch.

“Of course, “Diana grinned. “Nothing but the best for you, Dear One.”

“I could kiss you. I was just about to send Jess.”

Diana’s smile turned sly. “You still can,” she offered with a wink and Lena rolled her eyes, taking a seat.

“I thought you had to return to Paris?”

“I do. I fly out in a few hours,” Diana handed Lena a chicken wrap as her stomach growled and her smile turned fond. “I thought I’d come and see you before I did.”

Lena nodded as she mentally rearranged her schedule to see if she could personally see Diana to the airport. It would be a stretch, but she could probably manage it. She’d like to say goodbye.

“Well, thank you. I had back to back meetings this morning, and then I have a conference call later. This is lovely.”

They enjoyed lunch together, and having it uninterrupted was a pleasant surprise. Usually when Lena had a lunch guest, as a friend rather than a business partner, they, rather she, always had to leave. For Supergirl duties. But still. Lena would be left alone to finish her meal, and endure the stares, and then return to her tower to go back to work. The rare occasions where Kara had managed to stay for the entire lunch were some of her favourite memories. The reminder just made her heart hurt.

“Dear One?”

Lena pulled back to herself and shook her head slightly.

Diana didn’t speak, but Lena found herself wanting to share. They hadn’t really talked about Lena and Kara, but she was sure Diana already knew.

“Do you know who Supergirl is?” She asked without fanfare. If she was going to talk about Kara, and she did want to talk about it with someone other than Sam, who was painfully aware of how Lena had felt about the blonde reporter, she wanted to make sure Kara was safe. Though she knew Diana had no ill intentions, it wasn’t her place to out Kara.

“Yes,” Diana placed her coffee back on the coffee table, using one of the coasters there. “Kara,” she said, seeing Lena wasn’t about to elaborate further.

Letting out a breath Lena relaxed into the couch. That was good then. She could talk about Kara and her confusion about everything without giving anything away. Though she did wonder how Diana had found out.

“We were friends,” Lena said, finishing her wrap and wiping her hands on the napkins Diana offered her.

“Were?”

Lena let out a sigh. “I…. I don’t know anymore. I just…”

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug, knowing that if Lillian had seen the move her mother would berate her for it. Usually she wouldn’t express her thoughts and emotions in such a visible way but she felt safe with Diana, Wonder Woman had only even listened and tried to understand, she hadn’t judged her.

“You’re conflicted.”

Lena nodded.

“Betrayed.”

Another nod.

“Confused.”

That too.

“Heartbroken?”

Lena paused part way through her nod, freezing before darting her eyes up to Diana.

She slowly finished her nod. You could be heartbroken as a friend, right?

Not.

Diana was quiet a long while before she eventually shifted.

“I… can’t speak for her,” she said slowly, and she moved on the couch so that she was sitting close to Lena, closer than decorum would define the boundaries of friends.

She took Lena’s hand almost absently, and tilted it over, palm facing the ceiling.

“But I think this is something you need to speak with her about.”

One of her fingers was gently caressing Lena’s palm, making it tingle pleasantly.

“You are allowed to feel this way, but from what I read, you were friends and allies, even as Supergirl and Lena.”

Lena allowed herself a frown. “Read?”

“Bruce got some files for me,” Diana admitted with a slight rise of the shoulder.

Of course, Batman would be able to hack into the government agencies easily enough. She wondered what he had learnt.

“I’ll ask him to send them to you but…. She has kept you safe… as both of her personas. She’s protected you when she had reason to doubt, and she still came back to you even in the middle of your…” Diana paused to search for the right words, “Kryptonite differences.”

Lena tensed. That wasn’t something she could forget just yet, it still stung, and to have Kara be the person behind that hurt had been hard to process. She’d trusted Kara in a way she hadn’t trusted anyone else, apart from Lex, and look at how that had turned out. Intimacy wasn’t knowing her body, it was knowing her heart and soul, and she had bared that to Kara and Kara had used that knowledge to go behind her back.

It wasn’t the Super secret, or rather it wasn’t the presence of a secret, it was that Lena hadn’t had any. She’d told Kara she intended to murder Edge for Christ’s sake, but Kara had just accepted that, and her reasons for it, accepting that she hadn’t done it, and trusting in her. Kara’s trust had been…. Unrelenting, it had been Supergirl’s that had crushed, but Kara was Supergirl and it was….. heart-breaking to be played for a fool, to put her faith in someone so fully only for them to burn her with it.

She was still mad and sad and hurt and she just wanted someone to tell her how she should feel or what she should do. Diana seemed like an ideal person for the job.

“Its not-“ Lena cut herself off, trying to find words for emotions she wasn’t sure she was feeling, or could accurately name.

“If I became your friend,” Diana said gently, after watching Lena try to find the words, “and had no intention of telling you, it would be to keep you safe.”

She held up a hand to halt Lena’s protests. “I have no one left to care for, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t become one.”

“That’s a cop out.”

Diana nodded slowly. “I was hundreds of years old when I left Themyscira. They are still alive, I know that. Kara lost…. Everything…. And was only a child. I have no doubt she has tremendous PTSD. You’d know more than I, if she was receiving treatment?”

Lena hesitated and slowly shook her head. She wasn’t sure. Kara presented a bubbly face to the world but Lena knew there was more shadows in her past than she let on, especially now she knew who she was.

“She obviously didn’t want to lose you, or risk you being in danger because of her.”

Intellectively Lena knew the logic behind the decision, but it didn’t make it better and it didn’t make it accurate or fair.

“Ask yourself what she has done for you, protected you, supported you, and then ask yourself if that woman kept her secret, and remained your friend, out of a place of malice.”

Diana checked her watch and grimaced. “I’m afraid I have to go. I’ve a plane to catch.”

Lena rose immediately. “I’ll come with you.”

Diana shook her head as she stood, smile fond. “You are needed here, Dear One. But I will see you soon.”

Smiling sweetly Diana stroked her cheek. “Think about what I said. Ask yourself if she has treated you like any other member of this city or if she has treated you as a friend.”

Placing a gently kiss on her forehead Diana pulled back. “You’ll find the truth.”

Lena was left feeling a little lost and empty as Diana swept from the room, and from her life, back to Pairs and spent the rest of the day in a bit of a daze. She had gotten used to Diana’s presence that her life was a little duller for her absence.

Shaking it off she returned to work. L-Corp wasn’t going to run itself, and now that CatCo was back in Cat’s capable hands, she could finish her paperwork early and go down to the labs. It had been a while, her scientists were sure to forget what she looked like.

Pleased at her plans for the afternoon she gave work her full attention, and didn’t give the rest of the world any thought until what felt like the entire city shook.

“What the fuck?!” She grabbed at her desk as the room shuddered and then went still, then the screaming started, faint, even to her ears, but cries of terror, horror, fear and pain.

Spinning she rose from her chair and strode out onto her balcony. She didn’t have to worry about the structural integrity of L-Corp, she’d gone over it very carefully after her brothers first attacks and had engineers reinforce the entire building with Nnth metal and bulletproof glass. As long as a bomb didn’t go off under the building or in it, it would remain strong.

In the distance there was plumes of black smoke creeping into the sky, and she could see in nearby skyscrapers the shattered windows from the blasts.

“Miss Luthor?!” Jess drew her attention as she scurried into her office, tablet in hand.

“Put the building on lock-down,” Lena ordered, not taking her eyes off the smoke rising in the distance. “Have security clear it, floor by floor.”

Jess nodded instantly, fingers tapping on her tablet before she darted back out of the office to no doubt order L-Corp’s lockdown.

If there were attacks all over the city Lena wanted to make sure her people were safe before she released them.

Ducking back into her office she turned the television on, searching for National City News for an update on what was happening.

It was like Metropolis, she thought to herself. While Superman and Supergirl did dissuade petty criminals, they encouraged a greater challenge, and that usually meant collateral; in terms of lives and damages. Lena only hoped that Kara had gotten there soon enough to save as many people as she could.

Knowing she couldn’t do much now the building was on lockdown, including all non-essential files and experiments, she dug out her phone and sat down on her balcony to watch as the city simmered around her. She couldn’t work now, and she’d send her employees home as soon as it was safe to do so, so she settled in to practice her Atlantean. It was as good a time as any and she wasn’t going anywhere. She liked to be productive with her time, it was expensive.

Soon information was playing on the news and she wandered inside to catch it. Though she didn’t own CatCo anymore, she was still interested in what was going on, and this was massive news.

Apparently some terrorist/s of unknown origin/s had planted bombs about the city in an attempt to distract Supergirl, and, according to the news anchor on screen, she was currently engaging them and their new weaponry down town.

There was an image, grainy and shaky and only catching flashes of light and blurs, that came on screen; Kara fighting enemies of peace and freedom.

Lena sat at her couch, the same couch she had sat with Kara many a time and felt something in her heart clench.

Mad she may have been, but, as she had told Alex a long time ago before she had known the truth, that didn’t mean she didn’t care.

The footage cut out, but not before Lena, and National City, were treated to the haunting image of Kara being thrown back and through a building by a ray gun of sorts.

Lena muted the television as the anchor’s returned to speaking about the events. She’d keep an eye on it, but she didn’t want to hear about Kara’s fight, and she did want to study her culture more.

“Security has cleared the building, the usual protocols,” Jess appeared what seemed like minutes later, though a glance at her watch, and then at the sky-line, told Lena it had been at least an hour.

“We’re clear. Any new news?”

Lena shook her head. They still weren’t sure who was behind the attacks, though Kara had apprehended a few individuals after a ferocious fight, returning to each area where the bombs had gone off and engaging with people there. It was clearly a three-pronged attack, staged to wear her down enough for nefarious purposes, Lena was sure.

“I want a list of schools, hospitals, shelters, and clinics in the areas affected,” Lena asked after a long moment, staring at the screen where news crews were showing the damage the bombs had caused.

“See if we can distribute supplies or resources.”

Jess nodded and ducked away while Lena’s attention was still on the screen…. And Supergirl being shot by the alien guns again and not getting up.

Lena’s heart caught in her throat and she partially rose from her seat.

She unmuted the television was treated to the news anchor, one she recognised from Catco, talking into a microphone and discussing what was happening on screen to Kara.

‘ _and it looks like the repeated shots have taken their toll on Supergirl. She was hit with four of the rays simultaneously and hasn’t gotten back up. Wait! Who is that?! Oh, it’s the Martian ManHunter_!’

Lena slowly, reluctantly settled back onto the couch as J’onn showed up, and people in black swarmed the area from the between the wreckage of the buildings and cars to engage with the terrorists.

She didn’t take her eyes off the screen as Kara was lifted into a stretcher and carted away in a helicopter. The banner along the bottom of the screen was the same as what the news anchors were saying and Lena didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to hear about the damage Kara had taken in defence of her city.

“Jess!”

“Miss Luthor?” Jess appeared a few moments later, tablet at the ready.

“Order one hundred pizza’s, twenty serves of pot stickers, and ten tubs of Ben and Jerry’s along with serviettes, spoons, plates, etc.”

To Jess’ credit she didn’t question the order, bar blinking in surprise, but her professionalism was iron-clad.

She rose and walked over to her desk.

“Any flavours?”

“Pick a mixture,” Lena instructed as she pulled a piece of paper from one of her nice stationary sets. She jotted down a quick message and then folded it. She took a post-it note and wrote an address on it.

“Hand deliver them, and this note, to this address. Please,” Lena added, wanting to make her order more of a request.

Jess, to her credit, didn’t blink at the address. “Miss Luthor?”

“Please, Jess,” she said, straightening her spine and Jess nodded.

“Of course, Miss Luthor.”

“Take Manu and Keith with you.”

“It may take a while, Miss Luthor,” Jess sounded apologetic, as though Lena wasn’t aware her request was a big one.

“As soon as possible, Jess. But stay safe and don’t stress yourself.”

Jess smiled and ducked her head. “On your private account, Miss Luthor?”

“Thank you, Jess.” Having a competent secretary who didn’t ask questions was a god send sometimes, and Jess really deserved more than being Lena’s assistant, even if she had said she liked the job and wanted it back after she had returned from University.

Soon Lena was alone in her office again, the faint sounds of sirens still heard, and she glanced over at her phone. It would be easy enough to send a text but-

No. This was better.

She wasn’t ready to let her anger go

She wasn’t ready to let go of her anger and pain just yet. And even if she was, she didn’t know if she and Kara could just pick up where they left off, there was too much between them now.

~*~

‘_Agent Danvers_.’

Alex turned away from the bed where her sister was glowing under sunlamps.

“Yes?”

‘_There is a woman at the door requesting entry. She has food. Lots of food_.’

Alex frowned, casting a glance back at Kara, whose bruises were slowly changing colour under the power of the false sun.

“What? Who is it?”

The response had Alex growling and stalking through the DEO. 

“Let her in, but don’t let her further than the corridor,” she ordered and she snapped her fingers at a few agents she passed, and they fell into step behind her, clearly seeing something in her expression.

Soon she was opening a door and stepping out into the visitor entrance to the DEO. It was a long corridor with a single guard near the door, but its simplicity hid its security protocols and they were impressive. No one, unless they were more than human, would get further into the building unless they had clearance or non-human weaponry, and the delegation from L-Corp didn’t have either.

Alex recognised Lena’s loyal secretary from her previous visit to L-Corp, and judging by the way her eyes narrowed, the recognition was mutual.

“Agent Danvers,” Jess said stiffly and gestured behind her to the two buff guys, clearly security and former special forces, holding many pizza boxes. “There’s more in the car, so if you can point me in Supergirl’s direction, I’ll be out of your hair.”

Clearly this was news to the two security for they weren’t swift enough to hide their expressions, but soon their professional mask was in place.

“What are you doing here?” Alex demanded, cocking her hip and folding her arms.

Jess had her own bags of delicious smelling food, and Alex’s stomach growled in response, and she juggled them to hand out a folded piece of card.

Alex took it after a moments hesitation.

At first glance the stationary was high quality, elegant and soft, and she flicked the fold open to read the message.

In pretty cursive was written,

I hope this makes you feel better – L

And Alex fought the urge to crush the message. Lena had no right to try and, and, and _buy_ Kara’s affection or whatever it was she was trying to do, not after the way she had treated Kara. She’d basically cut Kara out of her life, and it was destroying Kara slowly. Alex was the one who had to deal with her crying sister almost every night, and Kara was finally getting over Lena, and getting over the very pretty brunette Lena had been seen hanging around with, and this wasn’t about to help with that.

“We don’t accept this. Go and don’t come back,” she demanded, offering the card back to Jess.

The pretty girl sneered at her and didn’t take the stationary. “It isn’t for you.”

Alex grit her teeth. Where Lena found someone so willing to defy governmental authority for her Alex didn’t know, but it was really fucking frustrating.

“So unless you speak for Supergirl,” Jess said with the kind of innocence Alex had come to expect from a Luthor going in for the kill, “you can’t throw these out. Miss Luthor was _very_ specific.”

Alex met her gaze for a moment, and her stomach made the decision for her.

“Fine,” she bit out. “Take the food and clear it.” She didn’t bother to lower her tone as she addressed her agents. “None of it gets any where near Supergirl without being checked. Understood?”

“Ma’am,” they saluted her unison and strode forward to take the pizza boxes.

“We’ll just go and get the rest,” said one of Lena’s security guards, eyes roving over everything and Alex made a note to investigate who they were. They looked the part, heck they looked like they’d fit in fine in DEO uniforms and Alex didn’t like that.

A few of her own agents emerged from the hall to take more food, probably hearing there was pizza and, Alex glanced down into the bag Jess handed to her, pot stickers.

Eyes narrowing again, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to see much more if she kept narrowing them, she looked at Jess. What did Jess know?

The security guards came back with their arms full of pizza boxes and set them on the ground, returning back to the car for even more and Alex wondered how much Lena had spent in her attempt to buy Kara.

It wasn’t about to work, Alex vowed. Alex had held Kara together after Lena had left, shut her off completely, and Alex wouldn’t let Kara just fall back into Lena’s web.

“How is she?” Jess enquired softly and Alex stiffened.

“I am not authorised to disclose that info-“

“Not Supergirl,” Jess rolled her eyes and Alex was pretty sure she’d need to check in with her dentist soon, she might have cracked a tooth. “Kara,” Jess added in a muted whisper and Alex nearly drew her gun before she thought that Jess was asking after Agent Danvers’ sister, and not Supergirl.

“Doing fine,” she replied archly, letting her disdain for the situation leak into her voice. Let Jess report back to Lena that Kara was doing fine without her.

Jess’ lip twitched and Alex knew she didn’t believe a word of it. “Because my boss is missing her best friend terribly.”

Alex’s jaw worked and Jess smiled sadly. “I don’t know what happened between them, it isn’t my place, but I know that Kara brightened Miss Luthor’s day whenever she came to visit, and Lena always came back from her lunches in high spirits. Take that as you will.”

Jess gave another little nod, and Alex would later complain about how complicated her life was, and exited the building, and it made Alex think of some ancient diplomat selling off her daughter after a complicated arranged marriage where actual feelings were involved. It was a mess.

Still. Food.

She glanced down at the card in her hand and smoothed it out a little. She didn’t want her feelings quite so obvious when she gave Kara the card, and food if it all checked out, and she begrudgingly admitted that it was probably perfectly safe, but still. You could never be too careful.

Soon enough her agents were digging into the free pizza, delighted to find ice-cream as well, and Alex made sure Kara had her own stack of pizzas, a tub of ice-cream, and the postickers to herself.

She hadn’t really expected there to be anything wrong with the food, and there wasn’t, but still part of her had wanted at least a reason to hate Lena further. She had been an ally, sure, but she’d hurt Kara, and she’d done it intentionally by cutting her off completely and then parading about with her new ‘gal-pal’. Thankfully Kara thought they were just friends and that she had been replaced as a best friend, she hadn’t noticed the heat shared between Lena and her new companion, or the weighed glances, even on paper.

Alex had though, and had winced. If Lena and her new ‘gal-pal’ weren’t together, they were close to it.

Entering into the med-bay she saw her sister with her arm up in the air and her phone in her hand.

“Hey.”

“He-ey!” Kara brightened considerably at the sight of food and she leant up but Alex’s withering glare kept her beneath the sunlamps.

“Aw, you brought me pizza? And potstickers! You’re the best!” Kara crowed as Alex set the boxes down near the sunbed and Kara dove for one instantly. Nearly blowing out her powers only increased Kara’s appetite.

“Here,’ Alex said reluctantly, passing over the card and Kara paused, mouth full of pizza before taking it with slightly greasy fingers.

“What’s this,” she managed to mumble before she saw the familiar logo and the note written on it.

Kara swallowed slowly. 

“Lena’s secretary brought enough pizzas to feed a small army. I made sure to keep your favourites aside, and,” she lifted the tub of ice-cream. “Your favourite ice-cream.”

Kara looked small and lost and confused on the sunlamp.

“Why would she do this?’

Alex shrugged, and bit back the accusations she wanted to speak. Kara didn’t need to hear Alex rant about Lena again, not when she was so vulnerable.

“The world saw you get hit with those ray guns and stay down. Maybe she feels guilty…. Would serve her right,” she added mutinously.

“Alex,” Kara let out a long suffering sigh and Alex huffed. She’d let it go, for now, but Lena had better be careful. At least she hadn’t said anything about Kara to anyone, the DEO were watching closely, in fact Lena had almost stepped away from L-Corp entirely. After her experience with her near drowning, and the trial would be coming up shortly as the DA wanted it out of the way, she’d been out more with an elderly gentleman and that gorgeous brunette. She’d even gone back to Metropolis, and Kara had been upset she had to find out about that through the paparazzi rather than her own friend. It had been another all nighter of pizza and ice-cream for Alex while Kara cried over it, again.

“Fine,” she held her hands up in surrender. “I don’t know why she’s sent you food…. But her secretary said she’s been missing you.”

Kara froze, and the child-like hope that over took her expression made Alex’s heart twist, right before Kara’s shoulders slumped.

“She could call or something,” she muttered, glancing at the pizza and reaching out for another piece, not willing to turn down free food but clearly unhappy.

Alex could only pull the chair closer to the bed and sit in it, letting her presence calm Kara down. She was here and she wasn’t going anywhere.


	12. Chapter 12

“Lena!”

Lena hesitated at the doors to the courtroom at the sound of her name being called. Most of the press had been camped outside and had gotten shots of her as she’d strode into the courthouse and usually she wasn’t addressed so personally.

Her eyes widened when she recognised the duo being held back by security.

Vulko was in a crisp black suit while Queen Atlanna was wearing a light blue dress and had her hair up elegantly.

Striding over to the two she cast a glance after her lawyers. ‘_What are you doing here_?’ She asked in a muted whisper, using Atlantean.

Queen Atlanna beamed at the use of it. ‘_We’re here to support you, of course. Arthur couldn’t make it, but we will stand with you, if you’ll have us?_’

Lena thought for a moment. As much as she’d love to have support while she faced down the people accused of trying to kill her, she didn’t want to draw attention to Vulko or Atlanna any more than she was already.

The queens eyes suddenly narrowed. ‘_Don’t you worry about us. We know the risks_.’

‘_Princess,_’ Vulko greeted with a smile. ‘_We can protect ourselves. Let us protect you_.’

Lena could only lift a shoulder in shrug and nod.

“They’re with me,” she told the security, who lifted his arm to let them pass, and behind Atlanna, hand intertwined with her own, was a darker skinned man with a pressed button up and black jeans. He looked like he didn’t belong in fancy clothes, not like Vulko and her aunt, but he was trying his best.

“This is Thomas Curry, “Atlanna said, glowing as she settled closer to the man. “Arthur’s father.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” he offered her a callused hand, and Lena could see where Arthur got his rumbly voice from.

“I am glad to see my family extending. I just wish it were better circumstances,” he added and went back to looking at his -wife? Were they married? Lena would have to discreetly check in with that later- with adoration.

“Yes,” Atlanna’s eyes narrowed dangerously and he bumped her shoulder.

“We have to let the courts handle this, love,” he warned her with the air of someone who’d had the same conversation many a time. Atlanna deflated a little and Lena was warmed at the thought of her aunt wanting to deal with her would-be murderers by herself. It was sweet, misguided, but sweet.

“Miss Luthor,” a court attendant was summoning her and she turned to face them.

Vulko came up near her and offered her his arm, she accepted it with a slight smile and together they strode into the courthouse, amid whispers and with the glare of camera’s on them. It was nice to have family with her. Usually she faced these sorts of things by herself with only her lawyers for company.

The courthouse was packed, like it usually was when a Luthor, or anyone associated with one, went to trial and Lena wondered if any of these people should be at work instead of filling a sick desire to watch her go on the stand.

She was really getting sick of standing up there and being examined by people who only wanted to tear her down.

As she was walking she caught a familiar face, and the sight of Kara made her pause for just a moment.

Kara’s lips lifted in a hopeful, half smile and one of her hands rose partially as though she was going to wave before her hand clawed at her side and lowered. Sitting next to her was Alex, not even hiding her uniform, and Alex’s glare was telling. Lena wondered how many of the people in the room were DEO agents, ready for a fight. Though she wouldn’t admit it, Kara’s presence was comforting.

Vulko’s grip on her arm tightened in support and she carried on, head held high.

Atlanna and Thomas slid onto the bench first, and she caught whispers as people wondered who they were, and then Vulko walked her up to the edge of the public seating.

‘_Stay strong. We are with you,_’ he told her quietly and gave her arm a squeeze.

Lena nodded and flicked her eyes down the bench to her aunt. ‘_Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid_,’ she muttered in return and Atlanna huffed but Vulko smiled.

‘_Thomas and I will keep her seated_.’

Atlanna’s retort was uncomplimentary and Lena smiled but shook her head in her aunts direction.

Her lawyers were her individual lawyers, Luthor Lawyers, but they had been supported by L-Corp’s extensive legal team, so Lena was certain they would put forth a good case.

Soon the court was in session and the whispers were dying down as the judge took the stand. They all stood and then sat as the beginning of the proceedings started. The men who had tried to kill her weren’t looking quite so confident now, in orange jumpsuits and under guard, and Lena caught a few black eyes and bruised lips and wondered who had been beating them up now. Though she had appreciated Arthur’s defence of her, it may make things more difficult to get a proper conviction. Having someone beat them up would be a talking point for sure.

The charges were laid out and her lawyers basically asked for a short and cheap trial, not wanting to cost the city enormous amounts of money, when the evidence would prove that these men had collaborated to dispose of her and were guilty of it.

Then it began. Fishermen from the bar had been asked to be witness, and most had done so happily, as they hadn’t liked the crew of Posideon’s Mistress and they had admitted they had ‘killed’ the Luthor bitch.

Lena let her lawyers take care of it, for the most part. She would speak if she had to, but she really didn’t want to do so. Most of the witnesses were cross examined, even the waitress from the café, which had been a surprise to Lena.

The young girl had looked terrified on stand, but she had been brave under fire, and though Lena had learnt the girl had been in awe of her for years, and was accused of trying to butter up to Lena, she had been supported by her co-workers and staff. Lena made a mental note to go and speak to the girl, or send Jess with a thank you note. Being on stand was hard, and being cross examined by a gruff older man who was implying all manner of things about her and how she felt about Lena, would be awful.

It was particularly nasty, and Lena made a vow to look into that particular lawyer and see if she could find some dirt on him. She could take the heat, but not a teenage girl.

They took a break at lunch time, and her lawyers were quietly confident, and so they should be, she paid them a fortune, but also there were eyewitness accounts. Her lawyers had asked her if she could get in touch with Supergirl and ask her to testify, but she had point-blank refused, they would rely on her submitted witness statement to the NCPD instead. Her lawyers had grumbled, saying the PR of Supergirl supporting Lena couldn’t be passed up, but Lena had told them not to ask.

Atlanna and Thomas had gone out to get them lunch, and Lena was standing before a partially opened window, letting the fresh air brush over her. It was times like this where she felt the longing in her bones, the desire to return to the freedom of the ocean. She’d never been able to name it before, but now she could.

“It seems to be going well,” Vulko said coming to stand near her and look out the window. People were going about their business without a care for what was going on in the rooms above them.

“Yes,” Lena intoned dryly. “It’s probably gonna get attacked.”

Vulko tensed, eyes serious. “Are you sure?”

Lena didn’t turn from the window. “Each trial I’ve been in has,” she answered and her phone went off in her pocket, humming against her leg.

“Lots of people want to kill me. One day they are going to succeed.”

“But not today,” Vulko growled and she turned to face him as she dug her phone out of her pocket.

‘Diana Prince’ was the name showing up on her screen, accompanied by a picture of the two of them, Diana pressing a kiss to her cheek while Lena pulled a fierce face at the camera.

“Not today,” Lena agreed and answered the call.

“Diana,” she smiled, tension leaving her body at hearing from the goddess, of knowing she was thinking about her.

‘_Dear One_,’ Diana replied and Lena had really missed her these past few weeks, even though they called frequently. ‘_How are you_?’

“It’s going alright,” she answered and saw Vulko go over to talk to Atlanna as she and Thomas returned with food. “I think the jury is on my side. It’s hard to tell.”

Diana didn’t scold, instead there was exasperation in her tone. ‘_I didn’t ask how it was going, I asked how you were_.’

Lena turned her head to hide her smile at the thought of Diana caring only about how she was. “I’m okay,” she answered honestly. And, really, she was. The evidence against the fishermen was clear, though they hadn’t had any information on who had kidnaped her, it would be likely they would go to jail for it, so Lena was happy with that. She had Atlanna and Vulko and Thomas here supporting her, and even Kara was quietly there for her. Though Lena had seen James there and had a brief moment of wondering if he and Kara were there for the story. The thought was still sticking with her as she spoke a moment with Diana, enquiring as to how her latest project was going- it was a secret, apparently, but she was hopefully completing it soon and then she was going to visit the States. Lena didn’t like to admit it, but she was missing the other woman’s comforting presence.

There was doubt churning in her stomach as Diana continued to speak and it was with great reluctance she told Diana she had to go.

Diana paused part way through her discussion of a seventh century vase unearthed in Siberia.

‘_I’ll leave you to it, then_.’ She said and Lena leant against the wall, not caring who saw her. It was only her lawyers and team anyway.

“I’ll talk to you soon?” Lena asked, needing to know but also hating the way she sounded so weak and needy.

‘_Of course. I miss you greatly._’

A valve released in Lena’s chest and she relaxed a bit more. “I miss you too.”

‘_I have a present for you_,’ Diana added and Lena felt her heart thump.

“Ooooh, what is it?” She asked and Diana’s chuckle made her heart constrict.

‘_You’ll find out soon enough. Stay strong, Dear One_.’

“Bye.”

Lena let Diana hang up and spent time staring at the picture of the two of them until her screen went blank. She was missing Diana a great deal, but she was also missing her best friend. It was all very confusing and Lena decided, as her team was summoned back to court, that she was just missing having someone there with her. Vulko and Atlanna eased that ache, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Letting out a sigh she drew her armour around her. She had a trial to win.

She was the final witness called and she took the stand.

As an atheist she didn’t swear by a bible, but she gave her word, for what that was worth to the court room, instead.

“Miss Luthor,” her lawyer began as Lena settled in. “In your own words, can you tell us what happened on the night of the attack?”

“I was on my way to my apartment when I realised I did not recognise any of the janitorial staff on the floor.”

“You didn’t recognise their faces? Why is that something of note?”

Lena knew her lawyer was asking the leading questions but it wasn’t something she was particularly interested in sharing, but she needed to bare her soul to strangers. Again. At least it was better than having her apartment gone over with a fine-tooth comb, that was always fun. Nothing was private then.

“I’ve had people try to kidnap me since I was a child,” she informed him calmly, knowing she should probably add a touch of emotion to her voice but not willing to give the world even that. “I know the names and faces of everyone who works for me. I owned the building and knew the janitorial crew. The team that night, four rather than two, and men, were not familiar to me. I was suspicious instantly. I turned and walked back to the elevator once I realised that a person could fit into the trolly they were pushing.”

Lena paused to take a breath and gather her thoughts. “I was caught before the door opened and subdued. A tazer,” she added when she saw her lawyer move to ask her more.

“I was ziptied at my wrists and ankles, and I was gagged and shoved into a box with a bag over my head. We travelled down Westfield road onto fifth and Holly where we made a right turn for the port.”

There were looks between the jury and Lena kept her eyes on her lawyer.

“How did you know they made a right turn there?”

“Maintenance was being done on Westfield from the McDonalds on the corner up to National City Bank three blocks down. As we didn’t slow down for roadworks, nor did the journey become bumpier, we could have only made a right turn at Fifth and Holly.”

Lena paused before adding. “There is, or was, a pothole outside Baker’s Dozen which I was driven over before I lost track of where we were. I picked up out location as we went over the judder bars and down into the industrial area of the port.”

Her lawyer turned to address the jury. “Video evidence of the drive caught on camera has been submitted for evidence, You Honour,” he said addressing the judge.

“What happened then?”

“The car halted. I could smell the salt and sea and machinery. I’m not sure what they used on me then- they didn’t open the box, but it was a conduct for electricity and I passed out from the pain.”

“The box was tazered repeatedly until Miss Luthor passed out,” her lawyer added, clicking a button and a screen showed a picture of the tazer used on her.

“And then?”

“I was on a boat when I woke up. Eventually they opened the box and dragged me out on the deck. They cut the zip ties and made me kneel on the deck.”

Lena cast a brief glance at her would-be murderers before looking back at her lawyer.

“A man addressed me and we exchanged words. I was struck several times.”

“Can you describe any of your captors to us?”

“I only saw two, there were two holding me and someone at the helm. Of the two I saw, the man who spoke to me was Caucasian, mid-forties, aging poorly, approximately five eleven and two hundred and ninety pounds. He had a mermaid tattoo on his left arm and an anchor on the other one.”

“Which of the accused was he?”

“The one second on the left.”

“That is Mr Jim Fielding,” her lawyer helpfully pointed out to the jury and then had Lena describe the other suspect. He also pointed to him in the defendants bench.

Then he had her explain what happened next.

“He told me I was going to die,” Lena swallowed briefly, fingers constricting on the fabric of her pants and she glanced over at her support bench, needing some strength and finding some in the form of Thomas and Vulko who both had hands on Atlanna holding her still. She glanced past the trio to see Kara looking furious, and even Alex didn’t look too thrilled, and seeing her look their way Kara gave her a supportive smile and a discrete nod.

Empowered Lena turned back to her layer.

“He said some unpleasant things about me, my family, and told me he was going to kill me.”

Lena wet her lips, and sensing every one hanging on her every word she continued. “I was tazered again, and as I was on the deck Mr Feilding took out his knife and cut me with it.”

Her lawyer clicked another button and the same knife showed up on a picture.

“Is this the knife, Miss Luthor?”

Lena nodded. “Yes.”

“This knife was found among Jim Fielding’s possessions, there are also photo’s of it with some of the accused fishing trophies. They have also been submitted for evidence.”

“I’m sure it will be painful, but could you describe where your arm was brutally sliced open?”

The other lawyer voiced and objection at the language and her lawyer chuckled apologetically and rephrased his question.

“From here to here,” Lena said, pointing out the positions on her arm, from her wrist to her elbow.

“The cut was about this deep,” she held her fingers apart, “an inch and a half, two inches. I was then tossed overboard and they drove away.”

Lena let out her breath and reached for the water on the stand and used the moment to gather herself. This was harder than she had thought it was going to be.

“I tried to apply pressure and keep my arm above the waves but…” in a flash she was back at that moment. Cold water around her, the sticky warmth of her own blood curling down her arm and turning the ocean around her a yucky mixture of red and blue.

“Miss Luthor,” her lawyer enquired gently and she blinked back to herself and slowly turned to face him. Her heart rate was accelerating, pounding beating out harshly against the bone constructs of her chest and the walls started to close in. She needed to get out of here. She needed to get out of here now.

“They um,” she shook her head slightly, trying to fight of the images and the rising panic. “I um.”

There was a sudden crash and everyone looked towards the doors at the back of the courthouse and Lena took the reprieve for what it was, forcing herself to breath and calm herself down.

“Miss Luthor?” Her lawyer asked again, and Lena knew her little breakdown was being noted, hopefully it would only add to her victim impact statement.

“I don’t know how long I tred water for,” she admitted shakily. “Every time my arm got tired I would scream when salt water got into it.”

There were winces of sympathy from those in court. Saltwater cleansed wounds, yes, but it wasn’t comfortable.

“I thought I was going to die, especially when I started to sink below the waves. I didn’t have the energy,” she said, staring through her lawyer and the people present and out at the waves in her memory.

“I thought sharks had come, at first,” she said softly, “drawn by the blood. But it was dolphins. They kept me above the waves.”

The court was silent as Lena finished off her statement, but she wouldn’t have noticed if they were or not, she was suddenly tired and wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.

“And then?” Her lawyers voice was quiet, as though unwilling to break the spell she’d been weaving with her words.

“I got cold, colder than… anything else and I just… faded away,” she blinked a few times. Here she had to be careful. She wasn’t about to out Arthur or Atlantis, so she needed her wits about her.

“That is all I remember until I was down at the port again, and I swam to shore and went looking for a phone.”

Her lawyer said a few more words and then the opposition lawyer was standing up to cross examine her. This was where she could shine, she’d had upstart men try and tear her down since she was a child, and this man had no idea who he was messing with.

She narrowed her eyes at him, tilting her head in invitation. He swallowed and she let her lips twitch into a smile. This was going to be fun.

First he asked about where she had been, and what she had been doing, and if she had any connection to the men. She had no connection to them, to her knowledge, and while they hadn’t been the ones to kidnap her, they had been the ones to try to kill her.

Then she had been asked about her arm, as there had been no pictures of it bloody and cut, and she hadn’t been admitted to hospital, so where was the evidence of it?

“I have private doctors,” Lena answered calmly while internally panicking and wondering how she was going to explain this away.

“And yet,” the lawyer simpered, “your doctors didn’t report any alleged cut nor was it in the police reports.”

He smiled as though he had got her but Lena was a genius and she smiled back at him as she leant forward on her seat.

“A few years ago L-Corp purchased BioMax, research and development into medical nanobots. I used those to heal myself.”

There were murmurs about the legality or morality of it and Lena had to point out that an entire conference room of reporters had seen Jack cut himself and be cured by the medical research, and that, at the time, it had passed all regulations, Federal and State. The fact that they had killed him hadn’t been made public as Lena had wanted to keep Jack’s image clean, but the public was aware that Lena had found a few glitches with it and was working on it, that was why they weren’t available just yet.

Answer given Lena relaxed a bit more, until the lawyer asked her how she had survived her drowning, scoffing at the idea of dolphins somehow carrying her to the same port she had left.

Lena hadn’t had an answer for that, apart from the truth, and she wasn’t about to answer with that. It was one of her more undignified moments in public since she’d been a child, but she hoped the jury would take her lack of memory as some sort of miracle.

Then the lawyer ruined things, showing a video of Arthur beating up the crew members who were looking appropriately sombre at the accused bench.

“Do you know this man?” The lawyer asked as the video showed Arthur jumping into the water after beating up the crew.

“Aquaman, I believe he’s been called,” Lena said carefully, eyes darting over to Atlanna warily.

The lawyer nodded slowly. “How do you know him? Are you aware that, after you left the port, he attacked these crewmen and put several of them in hospital?”

Lena took a moment to respond, carefully thinking through her answer. “I only know of him as Aquaman. I know what I have heard about him through the media, that he is a member of unique individuals who have devoted their lives to protecting the people of this planet and to justice.”

Lena hesitated. “I have no control over other individuals, and while I am…disappointed…someone else took justice into their own hands, I am not displeased with the result.”

She let the murmurs continue before adding, “These men tried, and nearly succeeded, to kill me. I’d like to see justice done. Though clearly, in this regard, Aquaman saw a different kind of justice.”

“So you admit you’re pleased the crew were attacked?” The lawyer jumped on the opening she had left for him and she let herself smile wryly.

“The vindictive part of me is, yes,” she added, chin up. “I was assaulted, verbally and physically, and left for dead. They intended to kill me and later celebrated it. While I was fighting for my life, drowning and bleeding to death, those men,” she turned her gaze on them, daring them to meet her eyes though none of them did, “got drunk and bragged about it. So yes,” she turned back to the lawyer. “While I consider myself a just citizen, I am pleased someone hurt them. I didn’t ask him to, and wouldn’t, but I’m not sad he did.”

And she sat back defiantly. She didn’t need her moral compass checked even though she could see her PR manager shaking his head and making cut off gestures.

A few more questions later, and the opposition lawyer was shaking and wishing he’d never laid eyes on her, and she was rising gracefully from the stand and returning to her seat.

As the afternoon wore on the fishermen were their own witnesses, and some had turned on their friends in exchange for a lighter sentence, something the judge acknowledged.

After that it was over fairly soon, and the crew of Poseidon’s Mistress was being sentenced to crimes ranging from accessory, to attempted murder. Lena was very satisfied as she was escorted from the courtroom.

Atlanna was still vibrating with rage while Thomas kept trying to talk her down from murdering them on the spot. Vulko was keeping an eye on them all, keeping close to Lena’s side and apparently taking Lena’s warning about a possible attack to heart.

Lena left her statement with her lawyers and PR team, instead walking directly to her car and ignoring the questions shouted at her and the cameras shoved in her face.

Her phone rang as Toni opened the door for her and she smiled as she answered it.

“Diana.”

‘_You were exquisite, Dear One._’

“Yeah?” Lena let herself smile as she slid into her car, Vulko letting Atlanna and Thomas get in before he got in as well.

‘_Absolutely_.’ There was a pause and then Diana’s voice was fierce. ‘_I’m glad Arthur taught them a lesson. Mine would be more permanent_.’

Lena felt her heart warm at the implication and let her head rest against the head rest as they pulled from the curb.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

‘_Of course, Dearest_,’ Diana replied immediately, perhaps sensing Lena’s insecurity over the entire thing.

“I’m with people right now, but can I call you later?”

‘_Ill be waiting, Dear One_,’ Diana answered. ‘_Enjoy your time with your family_.’

Bemused Lena looked at her phone as Diana hung up and the she realised. Of course Diana would recognise Vulko, and then she could guess as to who Atlanna and Thomas were.

She had family in Arthur, Atlanna, Thomas and Mera, even Vulko, and she had friends in Sam. Her only confusion was in what Kara and Kara’s friends meant to her, and in what Diana was coming to mean to her. She was sure, that once she sorted that out, her life would be full and complete and she’d be finally happy. She just had to get to that point.

~*~

Lena tilted her chin as she took a moment to pose for the cameras, making sure to keep her back straight and the hint of an impervious smirk in place. It was two weeks after her would-be murderers had been found guilty and her life was finally settling into a rhythm.

Vulko came and spent time with her on the weekends, or she went to Atlantis in her free time to continue learning about the culture, and L-Corp was at the highest point it had ever been. She hadn’t received a credible death-threat in over a month, and her new fitness regime was starting to show.

While she hadn’t seen Diana since she left National City, the two spoke frequently and, though she missed her greatly, she was perfectly content with her life right now.

The one down-side had been Kara. She had sent a simple text, ‘thankyou’ after Lena had sent her pizza, potstickers, and ice-cream and Lena hadn’t been brave enough to text her back. It had been slightly over four months since the two had spoken, and Lena was afraid that whatever it was that they had had was slowly fading, and she didn’t know how to fix it. She wasn’t brave enough to reach out, too afraid of the rejection, especially after she had shut Kara out so thoroughly.

Maybe she had deserved it, maybe she hadn’t, but Lena had slammed the door shut on their friendship and hadn’t looked back, and now she didn’t know how to open that door without ruining things further. It didn’t help that Kara hadn’t approached her either, Supergirl’s camp staying silent, though Kara had been seen out and about saving people and changing lives.

Jess had brought it to her attention, that some rabid fans had tracked Kara’s flight patterns and deduced, correctly, that she was no longer spending any time near L-Corp. In fact, she barely went near the building at all, and though mainstream media hadn’t yet caught onto it, the internet had and the theories were flying, mostly blaming Lena for their fall out, naturally. It was future Lena’s problem, she decided as she turned slightly to let another photographer catch the angle and she froze when she saw James in the crowd.

She eyed him a moment, looking dapper in a suit and he gave her a slight smile. She inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement and then turned and strode into the gallery.

National City Museum was hosting an international exhibition of some of the most priceless artworks in the world, and Lena, as a sponsor, had been invited to the opening. It was a ‘black tie’ event, naturally, and all of the elite were invited or desperate to get one.

There were pieces from all over the world, exalted among masterpieces and Lena sipped champagne absently as she strolled through the exhibit, sliding between men in smart suits and women in gorgeous dresses. Her own was a floor length black one with wrist length sleeves. And a relatively modest cut exposing her collarbones and enough cleavage to remain classy and elegant. She’d styled her hair over her left shoulder and wore a few silver earnings on that ear, and on her right, she’d gone all out. She liked any opportunity to go back to her teenage-hood when she had gotten her ears pierced, and sometimes she could put her earrings back in while still maintaining her professional façade. She’d given up a lot for L-Corp, and she’d be willing to give up more, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss it.

She spent a lot of her time reading about the exhibits, noting that there was in-depth research done into the artist or people or culture the pieces came from, as well as intensive background information. It was fascinating and it also meant she didn’t have to speak to the other guests as she was so enthralled with the art.

“Of all the art in this building,” a smooth voice said near her and Lena startled slightly before glancing at her companion and couldn’t halt her grin. “You are the most exquisite.”

“Diana!” Lena exclaimed and let out a little, happy, fond sigh and shook her head as she registered Diana’s words. “Diana,” she repeated gently and Wonder Woman pulled her into an embrace, lingering a little longer than appropriate.

“Hello, Dear One. I told you I’d see you soon.”

She pulled away after placing a lingering kiss at Lena’s cheek but didn’t release her.

“And that was the best pick-up line you could come up with?”

She was rewarded with Diana’s rich laughter and ignored the eyes on them.

“It was a long flight,” Diana excused, and Lena let out a laugh, lifting her brow and noting that they were still holding each other but not being willing to let go just yet.

“I’m surprised you didn’t offer to pin me to the wall,” Lena admitted with a little laugh, thinking of some of the horrendous lines she’d been ‘treated’ to when she attended these things. Her heart somersaulted when Diana replied, and she knew she probably wasn’t going to match Diana on the flirting, because she was ready to admit that that was what it was, even if it went nowhere.

“The night is still young,” Diana winked and then the smile fell from her face as she looked over Lena’s shoulder. Lena nearly choked and ducked her head.

“To work?” Lena enquired, realising that Diana was here as part of the exhibition. She hadn’t known that she was the guest speaker and was excited to hear her speak of what she loved so much.

“All work and no play,” Diana sighed before shaking her head playfully. “I’ll catch up with you later,” she promised, bending over Lena’s hand to kiss her knuckles softly. Lena was certain her face went red but she held Diana’s eyes even as the not so discrete flash of a camera went off.

As she pulled away Diana paused and a calculating look entered her eyes.

“What are you doing out of your display?”

Lena tilted her head, brow furrowing and a confused smile on her face.

“We are at a museum of _fine_ art.”

Lena rolled her eyes with an amused huff and Diana darted in to kiss her on the cheek again. “I’ll see you soon, Dearest.”

Thoroughly amused, and quite happy, Lena watched Diana stride away from her, finally seeing Diana’s dress for the first time and she was very happy that she hadn’t yet thought to take a sip of her champagne.

Diana was resplendent in a shimmering silver dress, single shoulder and loped around her neck with gold. The front had been modest, sexy, but mostly modest, and nothing like some of the necklines Lena had seen in present company, but the back of the dress. Christ. The back. There was no fabric there and Diana’s entire smooth and muscular back was on display.

Lena tilted her head back and swallowed the rest of her champagne, placing it on the tray a server was carrying nearby.

Deciding to avoid alcohol for the rest of the evening, and already feeling the buzz of it crawling through her blood, or maybe it was Diana’s presence, she continued her journey around the gallery.

Eventually they were called back to the main hall, where there would be speeches, an auction, food, and dancing.

Lena took her designated seat and settled in to pay attention to the speeches. She caught the eye of a few people she knew, and nodded politely at Cat Grant, who looked radiant in blue.

Diana gave her speech, thanking the donors and making an impassioned plea for national treasures to be returned to their people, and for cultures to be shared freely. As she spoke the servers placed large trays and bowls and plates of food on the tables in the corner. They were supposed to feed themselves, or be fed by the servers, so Lena would join the line later perhaps, at the moment she was enjoying the soft music the band was playing in the corner.

“Not hungry?”

Lena acknowledged Diana’s presence at her side with a smile.

“The opposite, actually,” she said nodding over at the tables. The only people in the line were men… obviously so. “I’m ravenous, however I’m not interested in tomorrows headline reading ‘Luthor lets herself go’.”

“Well, they do tend to serve palm sized steak at these things and have the nerve to call them meals,” Diana agreed, eyeing the table.

“Shall we give them something else to talk about?”

Lena hesitated, glancing up at Diana, who was gazing down at her with blatant affection.

“Join me for a dance?”

Lena eyed the hand being offered to her and threw caution to the wind. Whatever was going on between her and Diana was… exciting and thrilling and she wanted to see where it led. She was willing to leap, as it were, and just go along with what she wanted.

She accepted Diana’s hand, and it was warm and soft even though it was callused and Diana’s answering smile made Lena’s heart flip.

Diana was firm as she guided Lena around and brought their bodies close together and linking their hands. Perhaps at some cue from Diana, or taking in their posture, the band changed their tune, to something classic, haunting and familiar, and….intimate in it.

“I noticed a glaring lack of security. Something you want to tell me?” Lena enquired as Diana spun her around.

Wonder Woman let out a light laugh. “No, Dearest. They are here… blending. You know how snobs get about seeing security. Besides,” Diana said as she pulled her in closer. “I’m sure you’ll be safe. There’s a hero present.”

Lena let out a hum.

The two danced for a while and then the guests were being called to the charity auction.

“Shall we stay a moment longer, and then go to dinner?”

Lena glanced at the large clock on the wall and gave a little nod. If she stayed for another half hour or so, then she could politely leave without too many people commenting on it.

Diana escorted her down the hall, nodding to people she recognised, but Lena had most of her attention.

“I’ve had my eye on a painting for-“

Lena halted. There, in blue dress the colour of her alter-ego and talking animatedly to Cat Grant, was Kara.

Diana followed her gaze and nodded. “I see. Come,” she pulled on Lena’s arm and guided her forward.

“Cat Grant,” Diana smiled and held out the hand not curled up with Lena to the media mogul who had turned and shown surprise at who had addressed her.

“Diana Prince!”

Cat glanced over the two of them, lingering on their locked arms before looking at their faces.

“Lena. How do you know each other?”

“A family friend introduced us,” Diana answered smoothly as all Lena could do was stare at Kara and make sure she was all right. It was one thing to know she was Supergirl, to see her injured on National Television, and it was another to see her, after months, as perfect as she always was.

“Well,” Cat said, eyeing the two women who were still staring at each other. “I saw a piece, a seventh century broach, and I do believe you are the perfect woman to tell me about it.”

Lena caught Diana’s glance but wasn’t sure what she caught.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to take you up on that at another time,” Diana’s voice was rich and warm and inviting. “The auction is about to start and we need to find our seats.”

Lena let Diana guide her away from Cat and Kara and she wanted Kara to speak, to say something, but she just kept her head down.

Lena’s heart lurched in her chest.

Oh. So that was how it was.

Lena could do that. She could… she could continue on without Kara in her life, it was easy enough, she’d done it for a few months, she could go on. She’d survived without Kara before and she’d survive without her. She had Diana and Arthur, Atlanna and Vulko. She didn’t need Kara. She didn’t.

Diana squeezed her arm as aching loss threatened her and she took courage from her presence.

Feeling like the air was getting thicker she let Diana sit her down, at the closest available chair and she took her hand and held it tightly. She couldn’t do too much least she draw attention to Lena’s breakdown, and lets face it, she was having a miniature breakdown, and over Kara no less.

It had been easy enough, to let the rage and pain consume her. She’d wanted the world to burn, to feel even the slightest amount of agony she was feeling. She wanted Kara to hurt, she wanted Kara to feel the ruin she had wrought on Lena by her betrayal and abuse of trust.

Lena had wanted Kara to try, to crawl and beg for forgiveness, if it had been real, and when she had given up after only a week, Lena had known. Had known it hadn’t been real.

And then she had wanted Kara to suffer, to have those she had cared for betray and abandon her until she was alone, alone like Lena was. It had been then that she had found her family, or rather her mothers family, and she had been saved. Instead of drowning in wrath and anguish, she had turned to learning and finding her place with her family.

It had been enough to keep her sane, to give her a purpose rather than waring with a god, and Lena would win. She would. But wasn’t willing to shoulder the magnitude of it, not while she was still so angry and hurt and looking at the mess of her life and wondering just what she had done to deserve loving people who died or betrayed her.

Now though, now she was just sad. She and Kara had had something wonderful while it had lasted even if it had been a façade from Kara’s end. She was saddened to see it end, even though it was necessary. She didn’t want to be used anymore. It wasn’t fair to her, she deserved better.

She’d work with Supergirl in the future, the world would probably depend on it, but she wouldn’t trust her ever again. A Luthor and a Super…. They were like Cats and Dogs, it was written in their very DNA that they would never be more than allies, wanting the best for the planet and the people in it.

That didn’t make it hurt any less though. 

She didn’t remember much of the auction, lost in her own thoughts, and let Diana guide her from the room and down the hall. She even missed the painting she was interested in.

“Are you alright?”

She asked her quietly, pulling her to the side and placing her hands around Lena’s neck.

“Breathe, Dearest,” Diana instructed her gently and Lena was now only aware of how she was shaking.

When she was young, and had first moved in with the Luthor’s, she had been trained out of her emotions, forced to keep them inside and never touch them, least they explode.

“Breathe,” Diana inhaled and exhaled with her, counting her down slowly until she finally felt like she could breathe, until the shadows lurking at the edge of her vision faded and the world was clear again.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped out, trying to regain control over herself and feeling stupid for it.

It wasn’t like Lena had no one else, why was she so upset about this? And it wasn’t as though she hadn’t cut Kara out with the intention of never seeing her again, but to have it all be true, to have Supergirl, to have Kara, be a lie the entire time was…. Just as painful as learning Kara was Supergirl in the first place.

“It is okay, Dear One. Just breathe,” Diana calmed her and soon the room was righting itself, the colours were sharpening and returning to their vibrant state and the air was lighter.

She took a few deep breathes to steady herself and then smiled thankfully at Diana.

Maybe she was getting soft in her old age, but the entire business had left her shaken to the core and she was thankful she had people in her life that seemed to be on her side. Diana; had come to her and been honest with her intentions, or at least had been after a few drinks and getting to know Lena. She hadn’t lied since, she’d been quite open about her life and the thing she had done since, so Lena doubted she was using her or lying, but she guessed you could never be certain about these things, but her instincts said Diana was true.

Vulko was on her side, she was his princess and he was under command of his King and the Queen Mother, so she doubted he was against her and she’d become rather fond of him. Arthur had given her no reason to doubt him, nor had his mother. In fact, the most honest and open people had been her cousin and his family, welcoming her into the family with no reservations and open arms.

She had L-Corp, she had Jess, and she had her family. She had no need for Kara or for Kara’s friends, even if part of her ached at the thought.

“Come, lets go eat. I’d kill for a burger.”

Lena let out a nervous laugh, finally starting to come down from whatever it was that had come over her.

“What do you feel like? Chicken? Beef? Vegetarian?”

Diana gave a thoughtful hum, linking their arms again and leading her from the corridor. “How do you feel about bacon?”

“I like it with almost anything but don’t go spreading that around,” she gave a little playful laugh. Though her calorie intake had increased with the amount of exercise she was doing, and for her intensive amount of swimming where she was going to incredible depths and cold, habits were hard to break, and her mother had cured her of eating anything but salads as soon as she hit puberty.

She’d hardly strayed from them since, preferring alcohol, coffee and salads. She’d only had something different when Kara brought her something. As though she needed the reminder of her former best friend.

Diana was in the middle of telling her first successful hunt, a wild boar which Diana had then skinned and prepared for cooking when they emerged out into the open.

“Miss Luthor! Miss Luthor! Miss Prince! Miss Prince!”

Shit.

Diana tilted her head proudly and strode down the steps and Lena met her stride and confidence.

Most of the paparazzi were well dressed but some were asking some very…unpleasant questions, trying to get a rise out of her, but she ignored them, until one ducked under the barrier and shoved a microphone into her face.

“Miss Luthor! What do you say to the rumours you and Supergirl are at war?”

Lena paused. That was just ridiculous.

“Nonsense.”

“But there have been reports noticing her absence from L-Corp, would you care to comment?”

Lena felt her eyes twitch.

“Supergirl is a very busy woman,” Lena answered carefully, keeping her voice calm and even. “I’m sure she has better things to do than to check in on me, as you are implying.”

Another reporter jumped in, a camera going off in her face.

“Supergirl has been seen looking not-like her usual self, and it coincides with your withdrawal from L-Corp. What happened between the two of you?”

A half dozen other questions were shouted at her, some more …. accusing… than others, and she felt her ire rise.

“Supergirl and I aren’t speaking,” Lena said finally, stiffly, sick of the blame being placed on her. “We had a…difference of opinion and have distanced ourselves from each other. I will still work with her in the future, but only in a professional capacity.”

Immediately accusations were shouted, questions asked about what had happened and if she was turning into Lex and Lena rolled her eyes and pushed past them. Naturally the Luthor in the city was the villain. Never mind that it had been Kara who had used her and betrayed her.

Her driver was already waiting for her and Diana opened the door and slid in first, and no doubt that would cause some rumours, but no more than Lena and Supergirl being at ‘odds.’

Lena let her head fall back on the seat as her driver accelerated away and let out a sigh. She was not looking forward to the news tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think of my museum puns? :D


	13. Chapter 13

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

“Have you seen the news,” Lena asked casually from her balcony, leaning against the railing and looking out over the city.

“Super vs Luthor; A new War?’ or ‘Did National City just become Ground Zero? Luthor admits to being at odds with Super.’ Or even ‘Super/Luthor Break-up?’”

Lena let out a little laugh. “Or my personal favourite, courtesy of Cat Grant, ‘Lovers Quarrel? Is this an end to the Super/Luthor partnership?’”

Vulko clasped his hands as before him as he joined her on the balcony. “It’s been the only thing in the news since last week. You probably shouldn’t have spoken about it,” he added, “but I see why you did.”

Lena glanced at him as he settled in next to her. “You never said what happened between you two. No pressure of course,” his presence was what she had thought having a mentor would be like, and he was sort of that for her. He was a mentor for her, in teaching her about Atlantis, and she wondered how she would have turned out if she’d had someone like him as she had grown up.

“Do you know who she is?”

“I haven’t been briefed on it,” Vulko answered smoothly. “And I have no need to know. Tell me what you can, without letting on to her identity.”

Lena gave it a moments thought.

“She came to me,” Lena said after a while, wondering how she could talk about Kara without talking about Kara. “And she was…. Vulko she was…” Lena let out a little sigh. Now the hurt and anger had faded she was just sad. Even if it hadn’t been real for Kara, it had felt real to Lena, and that was why it had hurt so much.

“She was amazing. She was kind and sweet and generous and she…. She cared, or at least pretended to. She swept into my life and just…made herself at home and I…loved her for it. She filled a hole and just..”

Lena sighed and resumed her brooding glance over the city. “When I found out, it was so hard,” she could feel the familiar emotion building in her chest again and forced herself past it. “I thought she was my friend, you know? But I was the only one being real, being honest. She just… she _used_ me.”

Vulko nodded but let her continue to speak.

“I told her things, things about my childhood and how I saw the world and… I even told her how I felt about _her_, about Supergirl, right to her face. And she… she just,” Lena lifted her hands. “She treated me like a friend when she knew how I felt about Supergirl and when Supergirl and I were… in disagreement. She just, she treated me like we were fine, and then treated me like a Luthor.”

Vulko was quiet for a long while as he processed what she was saying and what she wasn’t saying.

“Have you spoken to Diana?”

Lena Luthor’s friendship with Diana Prince was well documented, and once Diana knew of Vulko and Atlanna, she had been comfortable with being herself around them. They had even gone out for dinner once, Arthur, Lena, Diana, Vulko and Atlanna. It had been…. What a family must have been like. It reminded her of her dinners with Kara and Kara’s friends, and it had been hard to enjoy the day after that.

“Yes, she thinks we should talk.”

“And?”

“We should,” Lena admitted. “But I-don’t know how. What would I say? I don’t even know how I feel about it anymore. How I feel about her.”

“I can’t answer that for you,” Vulko turned to lean against the railing with his back. “But ask yourself, do you think it was all a lie?

“No,” Lena answered immediately. She _knew_ Kara, even if Kara had another part to her, Lena knew that Kara wasn’t like that entirely, even if she had gone after the Luthor in town. She was just protecting the world, or at least thinking she was. Who knew what Lena could have done, what nefarious plans she may have had for the city, really, it was only common sense she get close to Lena, to keep an eye on her, to watch her for any threat she may become. It just hurt that it had been a façade, but, surely, not all of it?

“What part was the lie?” Vulko enquired and she frowned at him shrewdly.

“Just that she was Supergirl and all… of that,” Lena waved her hand around to emphasise it all. The magnitude of it was… beyond anything else. Kara was beyond anything else. She’d taken up a position in her life and now Lena’s was duller for her absence from it.

Idly she wondered who had convinced Kara that kidnapping her and placing her on a skyscraper until they’d had their talk was a bad idea, and then realised it didn’t matter. Who or whatever had convinced her pig-headed friend not to confront her in public as her ‘S’ persona deserved her thanks. Lena wasn’t sure her stock could handle a public kidnapping, especially as it would completely disregard her wishes and Lena wasn’t sure what she might do in response, especially in the beginning.

She’d calmed down a lot now, now all she really wanted to know was how much of it had been real and how much of it had been a game.

Raised voices from inside drew her attention and she turned to face her office as a familiar face stormed in, Jess hot on her heels.

“You can’t go in there,” Jess was nearly red in fury as she chased Agent Danvers. “Miss Luthor is in a meeting!”

Alex wasn’t listening as she swept forward, a face like thunder, and Lena let out a sigh. “Great, just what I wanted today.”

“Shall I escort her from the building?” Vulko asked, straightening as Alex came up to the balcony and burst through the doors.

“Maybe,” Lena answered and folded her arms. “Agent Danvers. To what do I owe this displeasure?”

She was not above hiding her ire from Kara’s sister. Alex had always been on Kara’s side, and while Lena did not begrudge her it, she didn’t like being treated like a scumbag Luthor from someone she had considered her friend once.

“There was a robbery this morning.”

“There’s always a robbery or a mugging or an assault, Agent Danvers,” Lena said tiredly. “Why don’t you go and deal with the people responsible rather than come and hassle me.”

“It was Lex’s Suit.”

Lena froze.

“What?” She asked as she glanced up at Alex, finally willing to hear what the agent had to say.

“Lex’s Suit, the one Lex used to try and kill Superman, was stolen this morning.”

“And naturally your investigation led you to me?” Lena asked sarcastically, mind racing behind her calm façade. Damn mall cop security. She made a mental note to upgrade L-Corp’s security, again, she didn’t want anyone else coming in and taking any of her things. Maybe she could hire some aliens? If any would work with her now, especially as reports were saying they were quivering in their homes waiting for her and Kara to wage war. Idiots.

“You’re wasting your time, Agent Danvers,” Lena said coolly. “I don’t have it, and if I did, I wouldn’t be giving it to you.”

Alex came up to her and Vulko pushed off the balcony warningly, but Alex didn’t spare him a glance. “If Lex made two, then maybe he made more. Do you have them?”

Lena leant forward to meet Alex, and typically she admired Alex, but not when she was in her face. “I don’t have anything for you, Alex,” she said silkily, “and should you continue to bother me without cause, I’ll look into a restraining order. Wouldn’t that be fun.”

Alex met her eyes a while, nostrils flaring and Lena knew she was playing with fire, especially when Kara’s safety was concerned. “I’ll keep an eye out for it,” she promised. “I know Supergirl and I aren’t…speaking at the moment,” she added, choosing to ignore the way Alex glanced at Vulko before continuing. “But I don’t want to see her hurt. I promise you that, Alex.”

Alex’s eyes were searching, and Lena felt under a microscope as she was examined, but she had nothing to hide.

“It needs your DNA to work, Luthor DNA,” Alex added, clearly digging for something and Lena let out a sigh.

“I don’t exactly go out and hand my DNA out to people.”

“They could get it somewhere,” Alex’s accusation was clear and Lena rolled her eyes.

Vulko came to Lena’s rescue, not that she needed it.

“They already have it,” he said calmly and Lena glanced to him in confusion.

“They tried to bleed you to death,” he said, jaw clenching in memory and Lena winced.

“I’m sorry, you are?” Alex enquired, finally looking at Lena’s companion.

“Vulko. Nuidis Vulko. I am a family friend,” he said firmly.

Lena could see Alex’s suspicion and drew her attention back to herself.

“They could have taken blood from the knife,” Lena suggested before ducking her head. “Or off the deck. There was a lot.”

Lena gave it a moments thought. “They’d only need enough to over-ride the sensors and then use that to allow another DNA sample as the primary.”

The magnitude of it hit Lena and she looked at Alex worriedly. “They would have had enough of my blood. Is Supergirl prepared to face a Lexo-Suit?”

Alex didn’t answer which wasn’t a good sign.

“Sun grenades? Flares? Do you have anything to counteract the Kryptonite beams? The sword?”

Lena wasn’t happy with Kara, she was still mad, and she was still sad, but she certainly didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. And she absolutely didn’t want it to be because of her family.

“That’s classified,” Alex said stiffly and there was a crease to her brow.

“Look into that.” Lena suggested, a hint of panic in her voice. She wondered if the DEO still had the anti-kryptonite suit she had made for Kara.

She and Alex locked eyes and she implored Alex to see reason, to outfit Kara for an assault against something just as strong and fast and with Kryptonite.

Eventually Alex gave her a sharp nod and strode from the balcony.

“She seems nice,” Vulko said and Lena nearly snorted at his mild tone.

“She’s useably a reasonable woman,” she admitted, watching as Alex stalked past Jess, who, if looks could kill……

“But her heart rules her head. It is a common trait with the Danvers sisters.”

“Danvers….the woman you…”

Lena didn’t choose to answer Vulko. “We have a problem,” she said and quickly explained why having her brothers suit loose in National City was not good for its resident Kryptonian.

“Then we should find it,” Vulko said smartly, as though it were that simple.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to find it until who ever stole it wants to be found, “Lena said, mind whirling.

“I need to go to my lab,” she decided and looked up at her mentor. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled at her gently and bowed his head slightly. “It is no bother. I had wanted to see the new exhibition at the museum. This affords me the opportunity.”

Soon Vulko was leaving and Lena was going home, back to her private lab. While she could do this at L-Corp, it was something she never wanted to share with the pubic and L-Corp wasn’t as secure as she’d like. In her private lab she had full control over who came and went, and no one, except her, knew of what she was building in it. Millions and millions of nanobots made from Atlantean Steel and Nnth Metal.

She spent the rest of her evening making sure the bots were building correctly, and then figuring out how she would control them. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to imagine whoever stole her brothers tech would come after her. She wanted to be ready for it if it happened. When she had known Jack was responsible for BioMax killing people she hadn’t thought he was capable of it and had been relieved to find out he wasn’t. Still. Beth deserved to rot in prison for the rest of her life for making Lena kill him, even if it had been what he wanted. It didn’t make it any easier on Lena.

Beth had used an earpiece, looking like any other professional businesswoman but Lena typically didn’t. That was what assistants were for. She didn’t want to draw attention to that fact. She didn’t want to wear an earpiece, there were places it wasn’t appropriate and it would be taken, so she didn’t want her control piece to fall into the wrong hands, even if she did get them responding her brainwaves alone. She considered glasses, if only for a moment, before casting the idea aside. Few people knew she used glasses to read, and now she was fully Atlantean, embracing her heritage, she would never need glasses again, she barely needed a microscope now. So that was out of the question.

And what if it got knocked off or was taken? Even if she could program the bots to obey her, she didn’t want to be left without a means of controlling them. No. She would have to have it with her always and it would have to be something not so easily identified and removed. That meant it had to be inside her.

Her mind whirled with the mammoth task of making the tech she needed pin sized. She could place an implant into her skull, hidden behind her hair line, and no one would ever know. Her only problems would be its range, battery life, going off in the security sensors, and what would happen if it were damaged or stopped working when she needed it.

She devoted the afternoon to these thoughts and was fully absorbed in her work when Diana returned.

“Did you want to join me for a movie,” the goddess asked, leaning against the doorframe and Lena glanced away from her notes to look at her properly.

“Diana? What time is it?”

Diana had been invited to speak at NCU and had spent a few days taking lectures, so Lena hadn’t spent a great deal of time with her since the exhibition opening night.

“Late,” Wonder Woman said pointedly, lifting her brow and Lena let out a little sigh.

“I’m coming. I’m coming.”

Diana grinned, “Not yet you aren’t.”

Lena winced.

“I left myself open for that one, didn’t I?”

Diana’s grin widened and Lena groaned. She wasn’t winning.

“Maybe later,” she winked, and Lena groaned again, getting to her feet and setting her security protocols before following Diana out into the lounge. There were a few boxes of take-out and her stomach grumbled approvingly.

“What movie are we watching?” she asked as she helped herself to the take-out. She mentally made plans to take Diana out properly at the end of the week. She’d have Jess arrange it. Maybe dinner and a show.

“I thought we’d watch the sequel,” Diana said, clicking open one of Lena’s numerous streaming programs, programs she was not above admitting she had gotten for Kara. Well, for her and Kara.

Soon the theme song of Incredibles 2 was coming up and Lena let out a sigh, resigned to watching the childish film.

It was…better than she had thought it would be, honestly. Though she had picked up the villain of the film the moment she appeared.

Though the movie was for children, it did bring up a few points Lena had thought of before, and she wondered, as Elasta-girl zoomed through the streets, if that was the reason Diana had her watching it. The movie was over soon, and then Diana was pulling up a new movie.

X-Men.

Intrigued Lena folded her legs under her and settled in to watch.

It was instantly apparent the similarities between the X-Men world and the one she was currently in, right down to the ‘Registration Act’ and to the prejudice against people who were different, people with powers.

She also wondered if maybe Wonder Woman was trying to hint at something there too.

“Why haven’t you changed your costume?” Lena asked as the credits rolled and she muted it to better talk.

“It is part of me,” Diana shrugged, and Lena was a little sceptical.

“You’ve never wanted to wear more than… to look like…” she hesitated while she tried to find the words.

“-A medieval cheerleader?” Diana offered with a smile.

Lena let out a little laugh. “I was gonna say a cheerleader gladiator but,” she shrugged.

“I’ve been called that before,” Diana agreed laughing with Lena.

“It’s pretty sexy,” Lena admitted with a slight blush and Diana grinned broadly at her.

“It was a gift,” she said softly, eyes glowing in memory. “From my mother and aunt, for passing my womanhood ceremony. When I left Themyscira I had to take it with me.”

Diana linked their hands together across the pillow. “I took the sword, GodKiller,” she grimaced a little. “And bracers, a shield, the Lasso of Hestia and the tiara my aunt wore before she was killed,” Diana added with a little fond smile.

“I wear it and I remember; I wear it and I…. I feel home. It represents the woman who left Themyscira and the woman I became.”

Lena squeezed her hand in understanding.

“What would you wear?” Diana asked after a long moment of silence. “If you were gonna do the whole,” she nodded and ducked her head to her shoulder, “Hero thing?”

“I’m not,” Lena said instantly.

“Dearest,” Diana’s voice lowered a little and she glanced at Lena from the corner of her eyes.

“I’m not,” she insisted.

“Hypothetically then,” Diana asked, turning on the couch to face her, eyes alight with interest.

“Would you wear something like your cousin? Or something more like…. National City’s resident hero?”

Lena let out a little sigh but had to admit, part of her was almost excited at the idea of making something. She hadn’t really gone all out on a costume in a while, the last time she had she had been a teenager, excited with Jack to go to Comic Con as Thor and Iron Man.

She hadn’t seen the movies, but Jack had shown her videos, enough for her to itch to build the Iron Man suit for herself. And she had. She had taken schematics and prints and designed it, using a thin metal and designing it perfectly. She hadn’t built in weapons, she wasn’t that foolish, and she had never liked building things to harm, but she had made the palms glow brightly when she pressed a button. She hadn’t built it too well that she would get noticed, and she hadn’t taken her helmet off, but she’d won best costume at the event, which had been pretty cool.

The closest she had come to that had been the suit she made for Supergirl and she was a little eager to build something like it again.

“Well,” Lena said, actually giving it thought. “It wouldn’t have a skirt,” she said and gave a little laugh. “Or a corset,” she added with a wry smile.

Lena thought a while and then darted forward for her tablet. “Let’s get some ideas.”

Diana moved forward on the couch to curl up next to her, and Lena blinked a little at the gesture but her heart warmed at it.

They scrolled through a lot of fan art works and a lot of costumes from movies and television, but none of them fitted what Lena was really after.

“Would you have a cape?”

Lena shook her head. “A coat maybe,” she considered, “or maybe a robe? But not like one of those monk robes, maybe like, a robe coat? Do they have those?” She tapped a few times and recoiled from the images she was shown. They weren’t exactly what she was after, but it gave her an idea of what she really didn’t want.

Soon it became a game of sorts, she and Diana, curled up on the couch together and snatching the tablet from each other to google increasingly ridiculous images.

Time passed for a long moment and they got gigglier as they drank and looked at increasingly sillier costume ideas.

Lena knew that she absolutely wouldn’t be showing her face, especially if her outfit was stupid, but even then, she wasn’t about to show the world what she could do, or that it was her face behind the tech.

Maybe she’d wear a hood?

She took notes, mentally of course, on the things she liked and didn’t like, and begrudgingly promised Diana that if she made it, she’d show her first.

Diana was satisfied with that, and they retired to bed, to their own rooms, though Diana had lingered at Lena’s door and pressed a lingering kiss to Lena’s cheek, closer to her lips than to her cheek, but close enough.

They hadn’t gone any further than that; cuddling, holding hands, innuendos on Diana’s behalf, and chaste kisses. Lena was waiting for Diana to make that first move, to…. Move them on from where they were currently, but she was more than happy to push the boundaries a little, but not enough to rock the boat. She wanted to make sure Diana was invested first. She’d been betrayed by enough people lately to risk it all first.

If she was going to go in, she wanted to see the commitment of the other person. Wanted it to be real. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she lost everything again.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

Lena lowered her wine glass and inclined her head to instruct the waiter to pour her the glass. He did the same to Diana before telling them both he’d return shortly to take their orders.

“Have you enjoyed lecturing this week?”

Diana nodded slowly, taking a sip of her wine and mulling it over. “They are so young,” she said, and Lena let out a little laugh.

“They’re in college, Diana. They’re not that young.”

“Dear One, when you’re as old as I am, everyone is young.”

Lena hummed. “I’m twenty-six. They’re only a few years younger than me.”

Diana was quiet, the sounds of the diners around them punctuating the silence. “I forget how young you are, Dearest.”

Lena would have thought she had gotten used to Diana’s compliments, but she still felt her face heat when Diana continued, “You shoulder burdens that most people can’t imagine and you have done it alone, you have been alone for most of your life. You are…” Diana lifted her glass in Lena’s direction as the waiter appeared ready to take their order.

“Magnificent,” Diana finished, keeping her eyes on Lena.

Lena held her eye for a long moment fought the urge to duck her head.

“Ladies,” the waiter said smoothly in a deep voice. “Are you ready to order?”

Diana ducked her eyes down at the menu. “Dearest?”

“I’ll have the lamb, please. And the… mushrooms. Thank you. Diana?”

Wonder Woman gave a little hum. “I’ll have the fish… and we’ll share the pana-cotta?”

Lena nodded in agreement, smiling slightly. Her evening was turning even more date-like than she had anticipated, not that she was complaining.

“I’m sure even the eldest of us seems childlike to you,” she suggested, taking another sip of her wine before setting it back on the table. “I can’t imagine how you view us… our mistakes…”

“You don’t see yourself the way others see you,” Diana said after a long moment of appraisal and Lena flushed. The ambient light reflected in Diana’s eyes, making them glow golden and Lena couldn’t meet them for much longer, looking at her hands, folded primly beneath the table.

“I wish you could, Dearest. I wish you could see how extraordinary you are.”

“I really don’t think-“

“The sun, stars, the moon,” Diana cut across her, tilting her head and seeing straight through to Lena’s soul. “Do not see their own beauty, rather they see the beauty of what is around them, what they shine the light on. Asteraki. Little star.”

Lena didn’t have much to say to that, but her heart did warm and she felt the heat from it travel through her chest and through her blood. Lena took another sip of her wine to hide the flush she was sure was on her cheeks, but didn’t dispute the comment. She had a feeling Diana wouldn’t allow it, and Lena wasn’t sure how many compliments she could take.

Dinner passed with the two of them discussing famous artworks, and why each one was their favourite and soon they had worked their way through a bottle of wine.

They were starting on the next, when there was a disturbance at the entrance; raised voices, shattering glass, shouts.

Diana straightened and looked over Lena’s shoulder, suddenly alert. Her heart started to race and she spun in her chair in time to see her security detail, who had been seated near-by in neat suits, jump up between her and whoever was making the noise.

“Shit.”

Diana rose to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”

There was a gush of air and Wonder Woman vanished and Lena cast her eyes around for her but she was no where to be found, instead there was an inhumanly tall figure approaching.

It, he? It had dark red skin, a glowing blue gem between its eyes, and a lot of black leather. The boots had buckles on them, right up to the knee, if it were humanoid, and the leather was tight. Across the chest it had buckles as well, and wore a long coat with a high collar.

“Luthor!” It rumbled as it got closer and her security pulled their guns.

Lena cursed herself for not being better prepared and grabbed her purse. She had a gun in there, but she’d never used it.

“Stand down!” Her bodyguards were ordering while the other patrons in the restaurant screamed and scuttled away. Two detached themselves to come to her, and they were in the midst of lifting her from her seat when the creature lifted its hand and they spun on each other, driving fists, elbows, knees and feet until they went down in a tangle of limbs.

What the hell? Lena frowned at her two bodyguards as they grappled on the floor. Were they out of their minds? She took her gun out of her purse. She had designed it herself, and it would respond only to her biometrics. Plus it would probably kill anything she pointed it at, but she hadn’t wanted to test that out.

“Back the fuck off!” Manu shouted, and clicked his safety off. “I’m warning you!”

It growled, literally, and Manu gave the order. “Open fire!”

Bullets bounced off the alien and scattered, shattering glass and slamming into the tables and chairs.

“Stop shooting!” Lena ordered and what remained of her security hesitated.

The alien grunted out something and the men dropped their guns, letting them clatter on the floor.

Confusion was evident as they stared down at their hands, at the guns on the ground, and they looked bemused but soon found their professionalism to attack the alien in a match of physical strength.

It did not go well for them. It lifted them up and threw them across the room, leaving Lena to face it alone.

“The goth convention is down the street,” she said, lifting her gun and clicking the safety off. “I can point you in the direction if need be, but it isn’t here.”

The creature bared its teeth in semblance of a laugh, and Lena’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t the one wearing all black leather, looking like an extra from one of those vampire movies Kara had tried to make her watch.

“You are here,” it snarled, and Lena squinted at it. Maybe it was a girl? It was really hard to tell.

“What’ve I done this time?”

The creature said nothing but Lena felt… something… in her mind, it was harsh and painful and wrong.

_Drop the gun._

Lena frowned and looked at the gun in her hand.

_Drop the gun._

It was silver and looked like something out of a movie, she had designed it that way. It faintly resembled a revolver, and was sleek and deadly. She didn’t want to drop it. She wanted to keep it pointed at the hostile alien.

_Drop the gun_.

No. She didn’t want to drop the gun. Where was this coming from?

_Drop the gun!_

Slowly, ever so slowly, her hand lowered and she grit her teeth, trying to fight the foreign presence ordering her to lower her arm. As though she were watching someone else move, her hand slowly lowered.

No! She clenched her fist tighter, and there was a burning presence in her mind.

_DROP THE GUN!_

The gun clattered to the floor as she and the alien came face to face.

“You must die,” the alien said calmly, voice twisting around the English words with relative familiarity, but Lena could detect an accent, though she couldn’t tell what it was.

“I will eventually,” Lena’s heart was thumping powerfully in her chest and she could feel the adrenaline roaring through her blood. “But not today.”

Though she wasn’t proficient in self-defence, she knew enough, and curled her hand before slamming it as powerfully as she could into the aliens chest.

There was a moment of surprise on its face before it was thrown back a dozen feet to crash into a table.

Lena yelped as shock travelled up her arm and rattled it.

“Ouch!”

The alien was similarly surprised and looked from Lena’s eyes to her shaking fist in surprise.

“What are-“

There was a crash and then a figure appeared between her and the alien, dark hair wild, a glowing golden rope in her hand.

It lashed through the air and forward with a snap, curling around the alien and Diana dragged it closer.

“That was not wise,” Diana rumbled and every lithe line of her was taunt with rage.

She was wearing her suit, or uniform, or whatever it was that she called the armour she had been gifted by her mother. It was beautiful. Battle worn. But beautiful.

Lena stepped around the broken tables to look at it properly, certain Diana would have the alien contained. There was a golden eagle at the breast plate, rusty red, and where the breastplate was split to the leather skirt, there was a golden ‘W’, Diana’s namesake.

Her boots were worn as well, a little dented and with cuts in the metal but as Lena lifted her eyes up to meet Diana’s eyes, she was certain her appreciation was visible.

Diana held her gaze and Lena was paralysed. It had never been more obvious, apart from the medieval suit of armour and sword and shield, that Diana was something else, something that man had tried to define for centuries. She was the hurricane, the storm, the raw power of nature. She was it all. Lena was a woman of science, she did not believe in gods. But looking into Diana’s eyes, seeing the power and eternity of her, what her very presence challenged, Lena thought that maybe she could… or if she didn’t believe in gods, she could believe in a person. She could believe in Diana.

Lena swallowed, certain the reason for her heavy breathing had changed.

“Get a room,” the alien groaned and broke the stare-down and Lena tore her gaze away from Diana to look at her.

“You came to kill me,” she said, slipping into business mode. Her…feelings… for Diana could wait until the latest threat had passed.

The alien groaned as the cords glowed and Diana’s fist tightened. “Answer the question. It will go easier for you.”

“Yes,” the alien grit out.

“Why?”

There was more groaning and straining before it snarled out, “We had to kill her to stop her from killing us.”

Lena threw her hands up in the air. “This?! _Again_?” She strode up to the alien, suddenly angry.

“I’m getting really tired of this,” she said and slammed her finger into the alien’s chest, above the glowing cord. Diana moved up behind her, shortening the rope but also in support and Lena reached out briefly to touch her arm in thanks.

“I’m not Lex,” she snarled, glaring up at the alien. “I’m not my mother. What makes you so sure that I want to kill you? I don’t even know about you! You don’t matter to me,” she said speaking a little bit too enthusiastically with her hands. “And now you’ve gone and terrified a room full of people, and probably put my bodyguards in hospital, and for what? To kill me before I try to kill you?”

She took a measured breath and tried to force her annoyance from her tone. She wasn’t sure she was successful but she tried. “I don’t care about you,” she said calmly, and while it was a little harsh it was true. “I’ve never met you, I’ve never seen you, you don’t matter enough for me to try to kill you.”

“You want to kill Supergirl.”

Lena swore. Violently. This bullshit again.

“Do you believe everything you read?” She demanded, suddenly furious. With herself, with the world, with Lex and Lillian, with the papers, and with Supergirl.

“Not everything is about her!”

“You aren’t going to try to kill her?” The alien hedged and Lena let out her breath in a huff.

“No,” she rolled her eyes. “Killing her, and her cousin, shows an astounding lack of vision,” she said, letting her ire enter her tone. “They protect the planet from outside threats, why would I want them dead?”

Confusion was obvious in the alien’s eyes, black and empty though they were. “So, you…. Don’t want her hurt?”

“I thought about it,” Lena admitted, and part of her wondered at what had come over her to be so candid, and in a public place. She’d blame it on the adrenaline of nearly dying.

She felt Diana turn to look at her but kept on going. “I was gonna buy her favourite food stores and have them stop making her favourite food but,” she gave a little shrug. “Seemed like a lot of work.”

Black eyes blinked at her slowly and she let out a sigh. “I’m mad, certainly, and a little hurt, but I’m not going to fight her. It would be a waste of resources and time. And, frankly,” she said, getting annoyed again at whoever had convinced this alien to come after her, “your community can fuck right off. I have enough assassination attempts without adding your lot to the mix! Go out and get a fucking job!”

“We can’t.” The alien answered suddenly and Lena’s anger left her.

“What?”

“We can’t,” the alien let out a grunt, arms straining against the cord. “No one will hire us, and those that do treat us like scum.”

There was groaning as her security came around, and Manu stumbled up to her, blood on his face and cradling an arm. “Miss Luthor?”

The alien bared her teeth. “What else are we to do but hide in the shadows like monsters?”

An idea hit Lena suddenly. It would keep her safe and would get her PR manager off her back. It also came with the additional bonus of royally fucking off her brother and mother.

“Do you want a job?” She asked suddenly and Diana’s head snapped around to face her.

“What?”

“Do you want a job?” Lena asked the alien again, suddenly liking this idea. “You’ve proven my human security incapable of facing threats such as yourself. Why not guard me instead?”

“Miss Luthor! You cannot be serious?” Manu was pale in pain, and his eyes glanced between her and her would-be killer aghast.

“You’ll be out of commission for a while,” she said neutrally, ducking her head apologetically but he knew it was true.

“And I’ll need a bodyguard,” she looked back at the alien.

“Would you honour an agreement if I hired you? Would you protect me? Not kill me?”

The alien met her eyes a long moment. “If you hired me, I’d be the best bodyguard you’d ever had.”

“Supergirl is approaching,” Diana said and now that she mentioned it, Lena could faintly hear a whooshing sound.

“Consider yourself hired,” Lena said and glanced at Wonder Woman curiously. “Have you introduced yourself?”

Diana made a sharp movement with her wrist and the cord flicked out from around the alien and she wound it in, curling it in her hand. “Typically, we let each other know when we’re in town. But I wasn’t meant to be here.”

The alien was looking around at the destruction. “This is going to go badly for me, isn’t it?” She commented, almost idly and Lena shrugged.

“Stop!” Kara ordered as she slid to a stop in the room, hands on her hips in her classic pose.

Lena glanced around her and let out a sigh. She’d be signing a few checks tonight. Oh well. She was a billionaire.

“Wow!” Kara had caught sight of Diana and was staring at her, mouth agape. “You’re-you’re-“

“Supergirl,” Diana smiled, extending a hand. “Wonder Woman. Nice to meet you. Your cousin talks about you.”

Lena placed her back to the table and leant against it, lifting her glass to her lips.

“I oh, wow!” Kara was stuttering and blushing and acting more like Kara Danvers than Supergirl and Lena’s heart clenched. She didn’t like seeing Kara in Supergirl’s suit. It brought a lot of emotions, most of them painful and negative. She couldn’t talk to Kara yet. It wasn’t fair on either of them.

“Um, er.” Kara straightened suddenly, loosing the goofy smile and swelling to fill her hero pose. “Thank you for your help here, Wonder Woman. Can you tell me what happened?”

She kept casting longing glances at Lena but she didn’t know what to say, or how. Where did they start?

“A misunderstanding, Supergirl,” Lena said, pushing off the table and walking forward.

“I’ll pay for the damages,” she slid in next to Diana. “My dining companion ducked out to take a call earlier. Could you let her know I’m all right?”

The breastplate showed off Diana’s arms and she, perhaps feeling bold because of the wine, reached out and let her fingertips trail over the exposed skin.

Diana glanced at her hand and then into her eyes and gave her a smile. “Of course, Darling. Anything for someone as…” her eyes ran over Lena and flicked back up, “enthralling as you.”

Lena smiled at her sweetly and waved her away with a wiggle of her fingers. It left Wonder Woman with a way out, if she wanted, and also provided a bit of cover for Diana.

“Maybe we’ll meet again,” Diana said and paused in front of Kara. “Nice to meet you, Supergirl.”

Diana was gone in a blink and Lena flicked her eyes at the alien who had tried to kill her, who was slowly edging towards the door.

“Ah uh,” Supergirl warned her and folded her arms. “You aren’t going anywhere…. Whatever your name is.”

“She’s with me,” Lena placed her glass on the table and gathered her belongings and Diana’s. “Any problem with her, you can take it up with my lawyers.” She glanced over at Manu.

“Send your medical bills to my office. I’ll see you when you’re cleared for duty.”

He nodded to her and started to make his way over to his comrades.

This was going to be a mess for her lawyers to sort out. At least being a Luthor meant she could throw copious amounts of money at the problem.

Digging her phone out, she paused to collect her gun from the floor.

“I’ll see you first thing on Monday,” Lena said, looking over at the alien, who appeared to not know what to do. “We’ll talk then.”

“Supergirl,” she nodded to Kara and Kara swallowed.

“H-ey Lena.” Kara was awkwardly standing next to the alien and holding on to her arm, staring at Lena with a mix of emotions.

Kara was the one to try, and she got full credit for her bravery, but Lena didn’t think she was up to talking to her just yet, so when Kara opened her mouth to ask to talk, Lena shook her head. Not yet.

Kara’s hopeful smile dimmed, and her shoulders fell. Part of Lena ached at the wounded expression in her eyes and wanted to fix it, but she wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Almost though.

“Soon,” she said quietly, nodding to her once. They would talk soon. Lena was reassured with the knowledge and let it guide her from the building and outside, thumbing out a message for her driver to come and get her.

Already a crowd had gathered, lingering on the streets with their phones out and she let out a little sigh before catching sight of Diana.

Wonder Woman was posing for a few pictures and talking to fans and Lena took a moment to watch her before Diana detached herself and came up to Lena.

“Your Highness,” Lena smiled and her gaze darted around them, at their audience, before lingering on Diana. A sly smile tilted her lips and she ducked her head as she fell into a slight curtsey, glancing up at Diana through her lashes and felt the burning heat of Diana’s gaze.

“Thank you for the rescue,” she said as she straightened, having no shame in bowing, or rather, curtsying, to the closest thing to a God on earth there was.

“Of course,” Diana was smiling with her eyes, an intense glow to them, “anything for a woman as magnificent as you.” Lena titled her head and lifted a brow curiously.

“Well, I really must be off,” she saw a few people eying her with distinct dishonourable intentions, and she didn’t want there to be any more conflict over her, not that Diana wouldn’t protect her.

Diana reached out to take her hand and brought it to her lips, flashes went off around them and Lena was pretty sure she’d gone red and cursed her skin-tone.

“Until we meet again, Asteraki.”

And then she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me :D


	14. Chapter 14

“You caused quite a stir,” Lena said, sipping a water slowly and lifting her glass in question. “Drink?”

“No thank you, Dearest. Would you rather I let her kill you?”

Lena let herself smirk as she turned around and leant against the island in time to watch Diana prowl into the room.

It was getting late and Lena had already showered and dressed in her pyjama’s while she readied herself for bed. She had just finished reading a peer review journal for bio-engineering and had decided to drink a little before going to bed when a chill had caressed the back of her legs.

She had known instantly that either Diana or Kara had come to her, but she didn’t think Kara would risk her wrath by coming to see her when she had specifically asked for no contact.

Behind her the light from the city was an amber glow beneath the veil of stars and a breeze blew the curtains in.

Lena’s breath caught in her chest at the sight.

“I wasn’t meaning that,” Lena admitted in a whisper, knowing Diana would hear it.

Wonder Woman hummed and came further into the room.

Her presence wasn’t unwanted, but she was hovering at the edge of Lena’s space and waiting for Lena’s instruction.

“I am not ashamed of my affection for you,” Diana said honestly, a gentle smile on her face and Lena’s heart twirled. “I do not care who knows it.”

Lena ducked her head partially, defending herself against the comment and Diana’s gaze sharpened.

“You are kind and smart and sweet,” Diana said firmly and took a step closer, and the air around her somehow grew thicker and layered with… something. “You constantly try to do the right thing and you are earnest in your desires to help people, to save them and the world. Why would I not want the world to know how I find you? That I see you for the magnificent woman you are?”

Lena wet her lips, mouth suddenly dry and she swallowed the rest of her water before setting the glass on the island benchtop.

“How are you…” Lena trailed off in wonder and slowly moved into the middle of the room, closer to Diana.

Diana’s hair fell in silky waves down her back, with a bit of it tumbling over her collar and she was lit by starlight, somehow glowing with it, and maybe it was the King of the Skies himself lighting her, but as Lena halted before her, she wondered if maybe it was just all Diana.

Wonder Woman’s eyes were warm and kind and gentle, but there was flicker of steel behind it, the fury of the skies lingering in the shadows of her pupils as they eclipsed into black.

“How am I?” Diana’s voice was a soft enquiry, sure by gentle, and Lena was reminded of the woman herself. Confident and strong without being violent or arrogant. Diana was old enough, confident enough, to know who she was and not shy away from it. She knew what she wanted, and she went after it, that Lena knew.

“How are you real?”

Dark, expressive eyes were searching as Lena looked up into them, and she was loathed to know what her expression was telling her.

“I am real,” Diana assured her, voice lingering in the air between them. And it was electric, charged, heated with something unspoken.

She slowly lifted her hands to Lena’s face and their touch was gentle but strong, and Lena felt protected in the action, even though it was a small part of her.

Diana’s fingers curled around her neck and Lena’s entire body shivered to attention at the sure touch.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, pulsing in her veins and fluttering under her skin, pressing forward to get closer to Diana.

One of her hands curled around Lena’s neck and the other trailed down the curve of her neck, tracing across her collar-bones and further, hitting the fabric of her kimono and continuing down.

Diana took her hand and intertwined their fingers, lifting it and then kissing her fingertips before bringing their joined hands to her chest.

“I am here,” she pressed Lena’s fingers flat over her heart, or as close to it as she could get while she was wearing her breastplate.

“Can you feel me?”

Diana’s skin was warm and smooth under her hand and her pulse was rhythmic, charging the air between them.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, strong and proud, and desperate to leave her skin.

“Yes,” Lena whispered, feeling as though speaking above a whisper would be wrong.

Diana’s fingers were caressing Lena’s nape and she scratched her lightly. A full body shudder ran through her body and her skin prickled to attention as though she had put a foot into a warm bath.

Lena wasn’t sure who was leaning forward, but Diana was getting closer and closer until she could feel the puff of her breath over her face.

“Can I kiss you?”

The words were brushed across her lips, making them tingle and Lena’s nod was swallowed by Diana’s mouth.

Lena was certain the exhale that split her lips was undignified, but she didn’t care as Diana inched forward. Heat was in her chest, curling around the bone bars that kept it safe, and burning through her veins.

Diana’s lips were soft and smooth, and Lena was momentarily self-conscious that her own would be chapped, but the thought quickly left her when Diana opened her mouth and added a hint of tongue to the kiss.

Like some sort of valve had been released, Lena pressed forward, bringing her hands up to grab at as much of Diana as possible.

“Take me to bed,” she demanded in a breathless whisper when they parted for air and Diana smirked against her lips.

They didn’t leave the bed all weekend.

~*~

“Jess,” Lena called as she strode into L-Corp after a pleasant weekend tangled up with Diana and her bed, “I’m expecting a-“

She halted as she caught sight of the imposing alien who had tried to kill her sitting patiently opposite Jess’ desk. She was still in the same clothes as before, though bullet holes were visible.

The alien stood as Lena arrived, hands clasped before her and Lena ran her eyes over her before looking to her assistant.

“Miss Luthor. You have a visitor,” Jess was clutching her tablet protectively in front of her. “Do you need me to call security?” She added in a hushed whisper, glancing back at the alien watching them both.

“No,” Lena continued walking. “We discussed an appointment on Friday night,” she said and flicked her glance to Jess. “What does my schedule look like?”

Jess straightened and immediately began to rattle off Lena’s day, mentioning that she had a meeting with PR at eleven and a phone call with some overseas investors at one. She also mentioned that they’d been having press ring all weekend trying to get a statement on Lena and Wonder Woman, and what was going on there.

Lena rolled her eyes. “They’ll be saying I’m fucking my way through the Justice League next.”

Jess was quiet, but the way she pursed her lips was telling.

Lena halted. “Really?” She asked sceptically lifting a brow.

Jess shrugged. “I have placed copies of all publications on your desk. Legal wants to talk with you when you’re ready. Will that be all?”

“Thank you Jess,” she smiled at her assistant and Jess nodded and went back to her desk, eyeing the alien cautiously.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” she strode for her office, walking past the alien. “You know my name but I don’t know yours.”

A rumble emerged from her chest and Lena tensed at the sound, it was like growling thunder. “I have you at many disadvantages, Lena Luthor,” she said clearly, and her eyes narrowed. “Though perhaps not as many as I had originally thought.” She brought her hand up to her chest, right where Lena had punched her. Lena met her gaze calmly.

“Let’s talk in my office.”

She very rarely worked on anything important in her office, so all the door needed was a biometric lock and retinal scan to unlock for the day. When she left her office for the day the locks would click back into place, but for today her office was easily accessed by almost anyone with a simple lock-bolt on the door if she wanted it shut. Jess tended to guard entrance to her very well, and anyone would have to pass through security to get to her, so Lena was okay with her moderate security.

“My name is Charlisnkiey.”

Lena winced at the pronunciation. While she was fluent in a good dozen languages, she didn’t think she’d be pronouncing that any time soon.

“You can call me Charli. Human’s cannot speak my language.”

Lena placed her bag on the stand and strode over to her desk, powering up her monitor as she sat.

She gestured for Charli to sit before her and the alien did, though the chair she sat in groaned at her weight.

“Where are you from?”

“Saturn,” Charli said, tilting her head and Lena was again caught by the gem on her forehead.

“What’s that?” She asked, pointing at it, though usually she wouldn’t be so rude.

Charli reached up and clicked it out of place before holding it up for Lena’s appraisal.

“This allows me to channel my telepathy into kinetic power,” Charli said and replaced the gem.

Lena linked her hands over her desk. “Telepathy, super strength, bullet proof and…mind control?” She listed and Charli nodded, “what other talents do you have?” She was thankful she had pulled herself away from Diana long enough to dig out and adjust her brothers prototypes for a neuron neutraliser to keep the alien from her head, but hopefully she wouldn’t need it in the future. Still, it was tucked in behind her ear and hidden behind her hair.

“I make a killer martini and my chicken is to die for,” Charli dead-panned and Lena allowed herself a small smile.

While inviting her would-be assassin to apply for an interview had been done out of an adrenaline rush, Diana had assured her that the Lasso would catch any lie, and that the alien, Charli, hadn’t been lying when she had vowed to be the best bodyguard Lena had ever had. It was enough of a gesture of faith to have Lena go through with this interview. Plus, she had to admit, having someone looking like Charli at her back when she went out would be…. Very reassuring. Her own alien bodyguard. Plus it would shut up her naysayers.

Still. She wasn’t so stupid as to invite someone so dangerous into her life without a background check.

“Why’d you try to kill me, the real reason?”

Charli’s black eyes had a flash of something in them, something fierce and proud.

“Remove your neutraliser and I will answer any question you have.”

Lena unfolded her hands, placing them beneath the desk and lingering near her panic button.

“Now why,” she said calmly, cautiously, “would I do that? I don’t want you in my head.”

Charli’s face contorted into a semblance of a smile, but it wasn’t a nice smile, it was fierce.

“Why should I take you at your word when you won’t be vulnerable with me?”

Lena’s response for that was the same. “Back at you. I have no way of knowing if you are being honest with me, or if you truly don’t intend me harm.”

Charli’s teeth were sharp, like canines, Lena found when she flashed them in a snarl.

Lena’s fingers twitched over her panic button. She had wanted to give the alien the benefit of the doubt, but it was looking like that was back-firing on her.

“My people can share minds, much like the Martian you call J’onn.”

Lena straightened though kept her finger ready to call for help. She would probably be able to fight off Charli for a while. She was stronger and more sturdier than a human, she had tumbled with Diana for fun, so she could at least hold off the alien until help came arrived.

“I will be able to see your intentions and you mine.”

Lena looked into the fathomless pits that were Charli’s eyes and could see a reflection of herself.

“How was your time with the DEO?” Lena enquired, feeling an idea forming. She needed more information.

Charli snarled.

“That good, huh?” Lena asked partly rhetorically but also a little curious. The agency was devoted to hunting down aliens, and while they had moved on from their capture-and-lock-up-and-throw-away-the-key approach, Lena didn’t want to be an alien in captivity. There weren’t many laws for aliens out there.

“They have improved since the days of Henshaw. The Martian and Supergirl, and the other off-worlders, have contributed to that. But they are the… shoot first ask questions later type.”

“Well, I am sorry to hear that.”

Charli grunted. “You humans have no compassion or faith in anyone or thing that does not look like you, even in your own species.”

Lena couldn’t disagree with her there, though it gave her an idea.

“Why did you decide to come to see me today? You could have gone about your day and-“

“And what,” Charli interrupted fiercely, eyes narrowing into slits and they were reptilian like. “Hide in the dark? Hurting people to get by? To survive? Not all aliens blend as well as the Kryptonian’s. The rest of us do what we must.”

“I’m a Luthor,” Lena offered, unnecessarily as most of the world knew who she was, “why come here?”

“You offered me a job,” came the answer and Lena ducked her head slightly in acknowledgement, shifting back on her seat and away from her panic button. She didn’t think she needed it, not really.

“Will this… mind meld… hurt me? Or have any negative consequences on me?” She asked carefully, searching Charli’s face for any sign of deception, as familiar as it could be on another species’ face.

Charli shook her head. “No. But you will have a headache. I am told that humans crave chocolate milk after.”

Lena eyed her a moment. “I’m not,” she said suddenly, admitting it to someone outside of her circle for the first time. It was… almost a relief. “Human, I mean. Not entirely.”

Charli’s head shifted slightly and the intimidating air that seemed commonplace with the alien vanished in favour of her suddenly looking like a retriever. Was looking like a puppy an alien trait?

“I had suspected. You resisted my mind control and the bullets didn’t hurt you. You also hit me very hard.”

Lena wasn’t about to apologise for that but didn’t think that was what Charli was after. “I’ve only recently learnt about my heritage.”

Charli nodded in understanding, once, a sharp, bird-like move that had the air about her sharpening back into intimidation. Lena was sure the alien wasn’t even aware of it, of how Lena was perceiving her.

“Shall we continue with the mind meld, as you called it?”

Lena glanced between Charli’s eyes, mentally calculating her options and the outcomes, before slowly reaching up under her hair and pulling the device away.

It was a little bulky, having been shoved together in a few hours when she’d been able to tear herself from Diana, but it had obviously done the job.

“Go ahead,” Lena allowed. “But,” she leant forward slightly, eyes narrowing and voice lowering. “If you go anywhere I don’t like you’ll regret it.”

“That isn’t how it works, Lena Luthor,” Charli’s voice was a mild curiosity and then there was a foreign feeling in Lena’s mind.

“You have to open your mind,” Charli instructed and her black eyes were closed. Lena warily closed her own, taking a deep breath and trying to ‘open her mind’, as though it were something like a book.

The rumbling growl came from Charli’s chest again and Lena’s eyes flickered open.

“It depends on how you picture your mind, Lena Luthor,” Charli instructed, eyes still closed, and Lena got the feeling the alien was…. Laughing at her?

Mildly offended she narrowed her eyes at her.

“I saw a television program refer to it once, a….mind-palace? A rudimentary concept but it is on the right track.”

Oh. That made sense.

Mind palaces, or the Method of Ioci, building something in the mind to easily recall information.

Lena didn’t need such things, she had a photographic memory and used hers as a supercomputer, but she understood the concept. She just had to visualise her concept of ‘self’ in her mind and then let Charli in.

She tried to picture herself, using her own office as a location because she was physically present in it and she knew it well.

She kept her image the same as well, building the couch and walls and bookshelves and television up around her until she was picturing herself, and Charli, in her mind, in the exact mirror of how they were in reality.

“Is this working?” She asked and Charli opened her eyes. They weren’t black, fathomless pits like normal, they held… stars in them… light from a thousand suns and Lena felt she could get lost in them.

Charli lifted a mammoth dark red hand across the desk between them and pressed a gentle finger to Lena’s forehead.

Instantly she was thrown back in her chair, though Charli rose to follow her backwards. Things started to flash through her mind, pictures, sound, smells, things she’d never seen before or ever would again.

She saw large red-skinned people looking down at her, obviously Charli’s parents, and then she saw rooms with other people, young, like her. Then she was spinning again, learning about the stars around Saturn, about life on other planets, about the wars on Mars, how to use her powers and abilities. Then she was being kidnapped, forced into slavery, her escape and then her crash-landing on Earth.

At the back of her mind she could see Charli was showing all of these things so she could get a better idea of who she was.

Then there were humans, guns, fear and screaming, being hunted. The shadows offered salvation, and every time Charli ventured out she did so out of necessity; food, clothing, and the biggest of them all, medicine.

Then she was standing in a bar, dozens of aliens around her as they discussed what they should do, on the table was a familiar paper and a photo. “Luthor vs Super: feud reignited?”

There were snapshots of discussion, fragments of voices all speaking out in rage and in fear until it was decided that in order to stop the massacre that would come, when Lena killed Supergirl and then turned her attention to the aliens of earth, she had to die.. It was declared that she knew more than her brother, that she had gotten close to Supergirl and her allies and would be able to defeat her if it came down to it. It was decided that Lena needed to be taken out before she could take out Supergirl. Then it came down to who was willing to do it, and had the skill set.

Names were put forward and eventually it was decided that Charli would be the best one for the job, and she had accepted the task with reluctant grace, knowing she’d be killed or spend the rest of her life in a DEO prison for the privilege of saving all the aliens on earth. Burdened with glorious purpose.

Then there was the restaurant and the storm of bullets and Lena punching her, hard, in the chest and then black uniforms and a containment cell, facing down the Martian and finally being released.

Through it all she got a sense of who Charli was as a person, as an individual, and what mattered to her and what she wanted. What she wanted was a home, a job, what everyone else wanted. She wanted to protect people, but she also wanted to stop hiding. Lena caught fragments of what made her who she was, honour, truth, loyalty and knew, that while she paid Charli well and treated her like a person, she would defend her to the death. She also knew that she was giving away far too much of herself to the alien, but knew that unless she gave her a reason, Charli wouldn’t be sharing what she had learnt.

It was odd, she had this immovable connection with this other being, one who had literally seen into her soul.

With another jerk she was thrown back in her chair and Lena opened her eyes, figuratively and metaphorically, to see Charli was sprawled back in her own chair.

“Argh,” she brought her hand to her head and tried to blink away the sudden, raging headache in her skull.

Charli growled and shook her head a few times and Lena grimaced at her.

“Ow?”

“You are of a species I haven’t encountered before. With training, you could withstand even my mental attacks. You should consider it,” Charli grunted out, features twisted into a grimace. Clearly the meld had affected her too.

“So, want the job?” Lena asked after a long moment, which may have lasted minutes because she was lost within her own mind.

She shook her head to clear the haze.

“Yes. What would my duties be?”

Lena rubbed at her temples. “To protect me, basically. My human security detail guards me whenever I am out in public, and they also clear any building I enter and make sure there aren’t any bombs and things, but my usual security could take care of that.” She narrowed her eyes in thought.

“I’d have you accompany me everywhere, unless I don’t think I need you. You’d make sure no one tries to physically hurt me and-“ a thought suddenly struck her. “Can you protect my mind as well? Or tell when someone else is trying to gain access to it?”

“I can sense when another telepath is near, especially if they use their powers. If you were to be attacked, I would be more of a threat, allowing you to get clear.”

Lena nodded. That made sense. Lena could only feel something was wrong when Charli had tried to get into her head, she couldn’t, for lack of a better word, attack. So, if Lena was being attacked, Charli could engage her attacker while Lena ran away or put up defences.

“Why do you need a bodyguard? From what I saw in your mind you…” Charli trailed off diplomatically.

“Do you trust me?” Lena asked her suddenly, knowing that Charli’s answer was important.

The Saturnian was quiet for a moment, eyes scanning Lena’s features for the correct answer.

“Yes,” she said slowly, nodding once.

“Did you trust me before the mind meld?”

Charli didn’t answer but Lena didn’t need her to.

She smiled wryly. “How would you have reacted had you known what you do now? About me?”

“It increases your threat level,” Charli replied instantly. “To any who have not seen you.”

Lena nodded. “Exactly.” The thought of what the world would try to do to her if they found out she was almost as unbeatable as the Kryptonian’s didn’t bear thinking about. People hardly trusted her now, but if they knew she was super-human no one would trust her.

“My presence is to provide a cover, then,” Charli inferred, and Lena nodded.

“You’ll take out any threats before they get to me, so I’ll never have to expose myself. But,” a thought occurred to Lena. “If I ask you to protect someone else, or go off and do something, I’d expect you to do it.”

“I am not your servant,” Charli’s eyes narrowed, and Lena nearly rolled her eyes.

“My people take my orders seriously. I’d ask that you trust me enough to do that too. Can you do that?”

Lena needed to know that, if it came down to it, Charli would do as she asked. She needed to be trusted by the people around her- though what that said about her psyche would probably be of interest to a therapist.

“If you ask me to do something like that,” Charli began and Lena knew she probably wouldn’t like what she was about to say. “I’d have access to your mind to see why.”

Lena’s lip twitched into a grimace. “Agreed.”

She leant forward to press the intercom. “Jess. Can you please send HR to me with a bodyguard employment package? Thank you.”

Settling back in her chair she eyed Charli. “Is there anything else I need to know? Dietary requirements? Um, anything else?”

“I can eat what humans eat, though it isn’t my favourite. I will be able to perform my duties without interference.”

Lena nodded. “If you need anything, let me know and I’ll do my best to provide for it…. Starting with new clothes.” Charli looked down at her bullet ruined clothing. “If you want,” Lena added with a little shrug of her shoulders. “How do you feel about Armani? Gucci? I have my suits tailored.”

Charli lifted her gaze. “That would be ideal. Human clothing is not made for me.”

“That’s because you’re like, eight feet tall.” Lena suddenly smiled at the mental image of Charli in a black suit, towering of Lena as she navigated her board and the public. Oh, yes she just might like this.

Charli gave her rumbling laugh and Lena frowned at her.

“I will be able to hear your thoughts, or rather pick up on your feelings on certain things, until we both recover from the meld,” she lifted her hands apologetically and there was a knock at Lena’s door, with her HR Head entering a moment later.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Michelle.”

Michelle looked at Lena’s guest with wide eyes, but professionalism held out and she nodded politely.

“This is my new bodyguard, Charli,” Lena introduced at Charli rose to her feet and nodded at Michelle in greeting.

“I have the employment contract here, Miss Luthor,” Michelle swallowed and skirted around Charli on her way to hand it to Lena.

Lena understood prejudice, more than most, but knew that seeing an alien, and a big one, standing in your bosses office was a shock. Still. Michelle should know better. She was Head of HR, and she had her own prejudices to face.

“Easy Michelle,” she instructed with a gentle smile as she accepted the contract. She made a few notes and then handed it back to her Human Resources Manager, or was she Human and Alien resource manager now? Lena would have to look into that. As far as she knew, Charli was her first alien hire.

Tilting her head, she considered a moment. She had seen a lot in Charli’s mind, a lot she didn’t understand, but she’d seen enough to know the dire conditions facing the alien refuge community on earth.

“Would any alien be willing to come and work for me? Apart from you, of course.”

Charli blinked long and slow and she could see she had surprised the alien.

Suddenly liking the idea Lena leant forward across her desk.

“I have departments that could use… outsider…. Opinions, and, frankly, human technology is lightyears behind alien tech. I’d be willing to hire some experts.” She thought a moment. “Or anyone, really. I…._see…_ now.”

She kept her gaze on Charli, trying to convey that she had understood what she had seen, that life as an alien, as one who didn’t look as picture-perfect as Kara, was not easy.

“I’d like to help if I can.”

Charli ducked her head while pressing her hands together. “I will ask at the bar.”

“Bar?” Lena relaxed back in her chair nodding Michelle away.

Charli grunted. “There is an alien bar here. It’s one of the biggest place we can gather. We can even get our own food there. And alcohol,” the saturnian suddenly smiled.

“Is that hard? Getting food from your home planets?”

The smile on Charli’s face dropped suddenly and her features pinched together.

“Some of our food is not found on earth. I have seen many people starve to death. Others have…. Run into complications with the humans over food.” She shrugged and Lena could see the helplessness, there was a flash of a memory that wasn’t hers, a green skinned creature that resembled a fish and snake as one, convulsing on the ground in a dirty alleyway and Lena knew it had died.

“I’m sorry…. Is there anywhere you can go? What about… medical needs? Can I… help somehow? I have billions of dollars just.. sitting there.”

Charli’s black eyes sparked. “I will talk to them,” she promised, voice solemn and Lena nodded.

“Well, if that is all?”

Charli rose.

“Give Michelle a few minutes and then go and sign your contract. Arrange with Jess a time for your uniform to be tailored.” Lena tapped at her monitor while Charli hesitated.

“Yes?”

“I don’t have a human identity,” Charli admitted and Lena could have groaned with how ignorant she had been. Of course. Of course that was an issue.

Well. She’d just have to fix that right away.

“The presidents alien amnesty act,” she began as she pushed away from her chair and strode over to her purse. “Did you sign it?”

The rumbling growl that was becoming increasingly familiar to Lena burst from Charli’s chest.

“And tell the humans I am here and what I can do?”

Lena grimaced. “Fair point. How do you pay for things?”

“Cash.”

Cash. Like most people who tried to avoid leaving a trail. Smart. It was probably all she would get as well.

Hm, Lena would need to look into that. Perhaps she could fund some accommodation or something, give these refuges somewhere to live while they got themselves settled. It would be the least she could do after what her brother and mother had done, and, well, she wasn’t as ignorant as she was before.

Charli met her at the door and grabbed her arm before she exited.

“You are a unique individual, Lena Luthor,” she said gravely, a hint of what Diana would later call awe in her tone. Charli had said the after-affects of the mind-meld would linger a while, and obviously Lena’s thoughts and intentions had bleed into Charli’s mind.

“I am proud to protect you.”

Lena let her gaze flick across Charli’s face and determination settled on her features. “I want to change the world,” she said firmly, “I want to make it better for everyone.”

Charli nodded, and Lena was going to have to invest in some bigger heals as the alien was much taller than she was. Her neck was starting to hurt.

“You’re going to help me do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy International Hobbit Day! Guess where I spent it? :D Mwahahahaha.
> 
> Come scream at me?


	15. Chapter 15

“You didn’t,” Lena nearly snorted into her glass and Diana let out a giggle.

“I did,” she admitted, shaking her head while her nose scrunched adorably and Lena let out a little laugh, drawing the attention of the people around them.

It was Thursday and the two had decided to meet for lunch at an up and coming café on the waterfront.

There were a few other diners, though when they had seen who was entering the café some had left, and others had followed them in, clearly curious about Lena Luthor, her pretty ‘gal-pal’ and the hulking red-skinned eight-foot-tall alien following them both.

Charli was in a custom suit, though had kept her boots and her black trench coat. The look clashed but Lena had assured her that no-one was about to comment on it, and Charli had grinned, ‘I dare them.’ She was seated at a table near-by, drinking iced-tea as though it were the last of it on earth, and Lena had instructed her to order whatever she wanted off the menu while she and Diana enjoyed their date. And it was a date. They were actually dating.

“You actually told King George VII that-“

“That a monarch’s first duty was to his people, and that his heart should belong to his country.” Diana winced while Lena tried, and failed, to hide her bemusement.

“That went well,” Lena said measuredly, before letting out a snigger.

Diana let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. “It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak, just as it is the burden of the Queen to serve her people and country.” She hesitated. “Or King.”

Lena couldn’t disagree with that there. The Amazon’s had it right in that regard.

“Tell me more about your home,” she asked, and Diana lit up in a way Lena had yet to see.

Her smile turned fond, tilted as though the memory was painful, but was still outshined by the happy memories.

Diana was in the middle of telling her how she would sneak out of her rooms to go and train with her aunt Antiope when Charli popped up next to the table.

“Luthor.”

Lena instantly gave her, her attention and Diana tensed, clearly sensing something was amiss.

Charli had slid into her role as bodyguard rather well, and she had passed the courses which gave her actual licence to be one, and knew all of the laws inside and out. She knew to only interrupt Lena if it was important.

Charli jerked her hand behind her at the muted television in the corner.

On it was a familiar piece of technology locked in battle with an even more familiar figure in blue and red.

“Turn the television on,” she ordered, lifting her voice above the din.

She rose to her feet, staring at the screen and had to demand for the television to be turned on again until it was, the waitress clearly recognising her authority.

In shaky footage, clearly taken from a camera phone, Supergirl clashed with someone in the stolen Lexo-suit.

“Shit.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Diana agreed, standing as well as the news anchor tried to explain what was going on.

“We should leave.”

“Yup,” Diana popped the ‘p’ and Charli instantly came up behind them.

“Stay behind me,” Charli ordered and straightened to her tallest, somehow swelling her presence until she filled the entire room. Lena figured she was casting her mental presence as well, a warning that she was here, and she was stronger than everyone else.

“Come, Dearest,” Diana tugged on her arm and Lena let herself be pulled from the café. Diana tossed a few notes on the table, but Lena had a feeling the waiters were happy to see them leave. They probably didn’t want any of the trouble that seemed to always surround the Luthor, especially now that someone was on television trying to kill Kara.

“Get her to her apartment,” Diana ordered Charli, and the woman nodded, ducking down to pick Lena up and she groaned in annoyance.

“Put me down!” She demanded and struggled a little. They were already gaining attention and Lena really didn’t want her being carried around like a damsel shown on every television in the country.

“Not until you are safe,” Charli disagreed though she did hesitate near Diana.

“I will be fine,” Diana promised and Lena had to crane her neck around to see her. Outside people were already taking photo’s and Lena groaned.

“Charli! This is undignified! Charli!” She thumped at the alien’s back in warning and in response Charli jostled her.

“Rude,” she bit out and resigned herself to making the most of it, straightening the best she could and adopting an uninterested expression.

Diana was looking at her worriedly but the expression softened. “I will see you soon, Dear One. Please go.”

Faced with such a kind and pleading look from someone she cared so much about, Lena let out another groan.

“Fine. But make it quick. I don’t like my ass in the air.”

“But it’s such a nice one,” Diana grinned and slapped her fondly on it. “Stay safe,” she instructed and her gaze lifted from Lena to Charli, and Lena was sure there was a conversation there that she wasn’t privy too, even if it was facial expression communication.

Then the world was passing in a blur and she closed her eyes. While moving so fast didn’t bother her when she was the one moving that fast, she didn’t enjoy being carried like a damsel and being bound through the streets like she was a hunting trophy.

She caught fragments of traffic, horns and shouts and the like, and soon they were halting.

Lena groaned as the world suddenly stopped moving and she warily opened her eyes. They were on a familiar street and people were already staring at them.

“Charli!” She let out a venomous hiss as she was carried into her apartment building and bound across the polished floors to the elevator. “I am not a deer!”

To her surprise the alien chuckled, and Lena could _feel_ it, which was really weird.

“You protest too much,” Charli informed her as she ignored the stares and carried her swiftly inside the elevator, glaring at anyone who may have considered entering with them.

“What is your plan?” Charli asked as the soft and corny music of the elevator guided them upward.

Lena was quiet, but she couldn’t deny that her mind had been whirling ever since she’d seen the stolen Lexo-suit and the battle with Kara.

Lena doubted the Kryptonite had been removed and knew that the DEO didn’t out-fit Kara with blockers on purpose. She had been surprised that Supergirl’s uniform didn’t come with Kryptonite blockers as standard practice, but her own paranoia presented the answer. The DEO, and the government, needed a way to bring Kara down if they needed to.

Giving Clark the Kryptonite had been a bad idea, why give the person you might have to try to stop the only thing that could stop them? It was bad idea. Kara needed to be vulnerable in case she went rogue.

The thought didn’t sit well with Lena. That the only way to bring down the Kryptonian’s was a lethal way. Lena, at least, had found a way to contain them without deadly force, but the DEO wasn’t as smart as she was. Lena wasn’t so stupid as to give up Kryptonite, but she did want to find a way to neutralise them without hurting them in such a way.

Still, it meant that in order to keep Kara vulnerable to DEO weaponry, it meant she was vulnerable to enemy weaponry.

Lena had designed Kara a suit when there was Kryptonite in the air, and she knew the DEO used sunlamps and solar grenades to help her, so there were ways to help her if she could get to her.

She had made a few blueprints in the past, before she had found out about Supergirl, and she’d tinkered on them in her down time. Even if she hadn’t been on Supergirl’s side so much lately, the tech had been fascinating and she’d enjoyed putting her mind into it. The options were limitless.

If it went badly for Kara, and it just might, then Lena had the tech that could help her. She just had to get to it.

Charli took up position outside Lena’s penthouse, ducking into the spare room to grab a big gun, and standing in front of the door with the gun at a ready position. Lena was reassured that no-one would be getting in and retreated into her lab.

Her machines had been running around the clock building her nanobots, and then her nanobots had been building nanobots, so she had quite the collection already. Most were stored together in boxes, compact and square, and waiting to be used.

Unlocking her lab defences she strode over to one of her many monitors and clicked up the footage from Supergirl’s fight.

It was being broadcasted on all channels with news anchors commenting on it, and wondering who was behind the suit. Most of them were speculating that it was her, especially as she and Supergirl weren’t…on speaking terms…at the moment, but others were commenting on how she had been carried out of a café on the back of an alien. There were comments about that as well, but mostly the city was concerned about Supergirl’s fight.

Lena had a rudimentary neuron control for her nanobots, and was working on a chip to place into her mind, but it would do the trick.

It wasn’t as obvious as Beth’s one, and she would need to fasten it to her skin some way, but she was certain it would do the job.

She had already programmed several weapons defence systems, and even vehicles into the computer system, so the nanobots knew those forms without too much effort on her behalf.

Sudden excitement from the television drew her attention and she felt her heart freeze at what she saw. Diana was standing on the edge of a building, sword in hand and shield on her back.

Something in Lena’s heart started to pound, an increasingly familiar call to action. Diana was shot at immediately, but she spun through the bullets like they were nothing, landing with a thump and then advancing through the enemies with ease. They tried to engage her, but she was a blur, in red, blue and gold, sort of like Supergirl who was engaging the Lexo-suit thief.

The tide had turned for Supergirl, who now with aid was able to focus on her biggest threat, rather than the goons shooting at her.

Lena muted the monitor. It wouldn’t do her any good to get distracted.

She and Diana had discussed it a little more, the donning of a suit and going out to fight for those who couldn’t. The Amazonian’s story had been….. heart-breaking but also inspiring. Lena could see why her lover had chosen to turn her back on the world of man, having seen only the darkest parts of humanity, especially after losing so much to war and violence.

The world needed Diana though, the first of the heroes, someone capable of changing hearts, of inspiring them, of lighting a fire in everyone to do better, to be better.

They had still spoken in hypotheticals, seeing as Lena was adamant that she wasn’t going to become a hero, not like Diana or Kara, but it had been a fun exercise; designing a look.

She called upon it now, tapping a few buttons on her screen and pulling the schematics up. Supergirl might currently be out fighting the bad guys, but that didn’t mean Lena would be safe. You’d never really know when some bored, self-righteous soccer mum decided to shoot her. She wanted her defences ready.

Luthor’s were, by blood, dramatic, one only had to look at Lex to know it, but it was in Lena too, and she’d not be caught dead in blue, red and gold. Even though Diana wore it first.

She also hadn’t liked the idea of James’ suit, the chunky metal and the whole…medieval suit of armour thing. Not to mention the tech and resources had been stolen.

Lena would build her own legacy, thank you very much. Besides, she had looked at the schematics of James’ suit and had seen several improvements that could be made.

In her fantasy building with Diana she had chosen something a bit more…. Classic in design.

She had gone with the long sleeves her people favoured, black of course, and silver because she enjoyed pretty things. She had considered armour like Diana, or even something like the works of Tolkien, but she hadn’t liked how… fantasy it had seemed. She wanted something real, and she also wanted to look cool, and not like an extra for Middle Earth.

But… the skirt with the leggings had been something she had appreciated, she liked the sheer badassary of it, and she liked how cool it looked.

Charli would be thrilled to know she had taken inspiration for her boots, the knee high black leather, with laces up the shin and then buckled. The fabric wouldn’t matter because it would be metal; her nanobots. Atlantean Steel and Nnth Metal. She would wear black pants with it and maybe a trench-coat. She’d liked that idea, maybe she had seen inspiration from one of Ruby’s games, the multiple layers of clothing and the almost Victorian era regality. The people had swords and little wrist knives, but they had looked very cool.

She’d wanted a high collar, tight around her neck but with the bonus of protecting her from being strangled. And the use of a hood would be necessary, because she wasn’t about to show her face to the world. She was a little recognisable compared to Clark, Kara and Diana.

Arthur didn’t much care, he was a wander, but the others had lives and roots, and they couldn’t risk them.

And she also wasn’t about to wear a cape, but she did like the idea of a robe, of something billowing out behind her, and it would be able to provide another layer of protection.

She sent the image and schematics to the machine and instructed it to build the suit, colouring it as she had chosen, with the help of a few google images.

Then she went to her work bench. She may as well make herself useful while she was hiding away from the action, she wouldn’t be much use if she showed up without technology to help.

In the past she had made a suit for Kara, and she knew she could improve on the idea. A suit that radiated artificial sunlight, effectively bathing Kara in it, at an intense level that would hopefully supercharge her cells, pun intended.

She’d also taken the idea from the DEO for sun grenades. You never knew when you might need to give the plant a boost.

Aside from that she had an array of gadgets that she wanted to build, and she might have taken inspiration from Batman for some of them.

Time passed in her laboratory and it was amazing to get back to it, to truly design things on the power of her mind and imagination alone. She really needed to keep delegating some of her book work to her subordinates and stay in the lab, it was were she excelled, and she was very good at it.

“Dearest.” Lena tore her gaze from her soldering iron and glanced up at Diana.

Wonder Woman was a little battle worn, dirty but with a familiar swagger that told Lena she’d been victorious in a fight, a familiar thrumming of something wild and proud and fierce in her eyes.

“Are you alright?” Lena pushed away from her desk, rising to her feet and walking quickly up to Diana, eyes searching for any injury but she knew that it would be unlikely.

“I’m fine,” Diana replied, letting her hands come around Lena in a hug. “But,” Diana ducked her head and Lena pulled away from the hug, “Supergirl isn’t.”

Lena stiffened and stepped away from Diana’s embrace. “What happened?”

Diana sighed. “I had to let her go,” she admitted, frustration clear in her gaze. “They were threatening to bomb the park unless I allowed it.”

Heart pounding Lena turned her attention to the muted monitor and strode over to click the volume button.

Instantly the new anchor was explaining what had happened, that Wonder Woman had shown up to help Supergirl, but had allowed her to be captured. She had mentioned, off-hand, that she had to do it to save civilians and it was the only choice. There was also the accompanying footage of the Lexo-suit doppelganger dragging an unconscious Kara away.

“Were you able to follow them?” Lena asked, looking around for her phone. Diana shook her head, “I was going to but there was a bomb in the park. I choose to save the people over Supergirl and I-“

“You did the right thing,” Lena interrupted, finally finding her phone under some paperwork. “It’s what she would have wanted. Now we just have to find her.”

She pressed a few buttons and was soon dialling a familiar number.

“Alex,” she said the moment Agent Danvers answered. “Do you have her?”

“I was about to ask you the same,” Alex snarled, and in the background she could hear the bustle of the DEO.

Lena rolled her eyes. “I don’t have her, Alex. I’d hardly ring you if I did. Besides,” she added, staring at the footage of Kara being dragged limp across the ground and then dangling in the air as the villain flew away.

“I was escorted home by my own alien bodyguard. Didn’t you see the news?”

Alex grunted. “And how did that happen?”

“Legally,” Lena retorted. “Do you have anything on Kara?”

“No.” And with that she hung up. Lena dropped her phone on her desk with a sigh. Alex was clearly busy, but at least she knew that Lena didn’t have Kara, and Lena knew that Alex didn’t have Kara.

It wasn’t good, but at least Lena now knew where Kara wasn’t.

She returned to her chair and brought up her access to L-Corp. Lex had dozens of satellites orbiting earth, and while Superman had destroyed some of them, others of them had avoided his destruction. She had used those, and others, once she had taken over L-Corp, and she’d use them now.

“I’m going to have a shower,” Diana said and ducked out of the room, not before blowing her a kiss.

It took her a few minutes, but soon she was ordering every satellite over National City and ordering scans for radiation.

One of the things she had learnt, both from her own studies and from her brothers research, that the Kryptonian’s gave off a unique radiation. So did Kryptonite, and even if it could have been synthesised, and it would have a unique signature too. She just had to find it.

Humming in thought she reached for the little head-set she had created for controlling her nanobots.

Why wait at least an hour and a half for all her satellites to do a full scan of the city when she could just send out her own army of miniature ones to search the city instead?

In each of them there was a miniature chip, and while she was working on making a power source that could charge them at a distance, they had a small power source inside of them. It would be enough to power them for the moment, and would be what she needed until she could figure out the technology to do what she wanted. Dream big, after all.

Her nanobots rose at her command and zipped out through the door and towards the window and she had them click the lock open before exiting out into the air.

She’d have them search the city, grid by grid, starting out at the park where Kara got caught until she was found. She didn’t like the thought of Kara being alone somewhere, probably scared, and with someone with the stolen Lexo-suit. She didn’t want to think about what they had planned for Kara.

Settling back on her chair she watched as her monitors and Diana ducked her head back around the door. She’d shed herself of her armour and her hair was wild and fierce.

“Want to join me? I need to reach my back.”

Lena cast a glance at her monitors and knew it would take them at least time enough for a shower to scan the city. And the DEO had satellites pointed at National City 24/7 so they would probably find Kara before she did. She hesitated a moment and then rose to her feet. Alex would find Kara, she always did. And when she did, Lena would text her and tell her she was ready to talk. She wanted her best friend back, if they could ever be anything more than work acquaintances. Kara meant a lot to her and she needed to let her know it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one is a biggie ;)


	16. Chapter 16

“Wakey wakey, Supergirl.”

The words were broadcast on every news station and screen in the city.

Supergirl was chained at her wrists and ankles, hanging from some beams that disappeared off camera.

She was in some sort of warehouse or factory, empty by the look of it, but she wasn’t alone. There were a dozen men around her, on the camera at least, and they had glowing green magazines in deadly looking guns. Blood was visible on her suit, dark patches of it visible even through the half-rate camera lens.

Supergirl groaned, the chains holding her flaring green in response to her movement.

“I said, wake up!” The man, cute in a plain, American way with spikey black hair and lightly tanned skin punched her harshly in the stomach.

Supergirl came awake with a sharp cry, jerking in the restraints and throwing her head back.

“Ah, there you are,” he said pleasantly, in the way a cat toying with its prey might. “Nice of you to join us,” he smiled wiped the blood from his knuckles on his black combat pants.

“Who-,” Supergirl grunted. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The man tssked her, waving a single finger in warning as though she was a child.

“Now, now, Supes,” he said chastening, “you don’t ask questions.”

“You answer them,” he punctuated with another punch to her stomach, right on the dark patch of blood on her suit.

Supergirl screamed in agony, and the movement must have jostled the kryptonite bullet in her, for it glowed emerald and blood leaked from the hole.

“You’ve been moping around lately,” he said, blinking a little in faux curiosity, though he was a little interested, clearly, if he was asking a leading question. 

“What’s up with that?”

Supergirl glared back at him but didn’t say anything.

“Hm,” he hummed to himself. “Not gonna tell me.” He nodded a little to himself and paced before her.

“Wouldn’t happen to do anything with her, would it?” He jerked his thumb off screen and a familiar suit strode into the frame.

“That’s not Lena,” Supergirl shook her head adamantly, grimacing in pain and her main captor chuckled harshly.

“Only a Luthor can wear the suit and you’ve royally pissed this one off. Everybody knows,” he opened his hands and looked around the circle of observers as though expecting them to agree with him.

“Miss Luthor,” he spoke to the suit and the visor lifted to reveal Lena Luthor.

Supergirl stared at Lena, betrayal and heartbreak crossing over her features. “No! Lena! Not- you can’t.”

“Hello Supergirl,” Lena Luthor deadpanned, beautiful features blank. “Nice of you to join us.”

Supergirl looked at her main captor and then back at Lena Luthor.

“No,” she shook her head again. “No you aren’t here. This can’t be-“

“Can’t be what?” Lena asked casually, sauntering forward with her arms at her side and her stride long. “You’ve been brought here to die, like you should have when Krypton exploded.”

“Lena,” Supergirl was clearly struggling to hold her head up but she didn’t take her gaze from the young Luthor. “This isn’t you.”

“Ah, Supergirl,” Lena shook her head slightly, her mane of hair pulling out from the rest of the suit and she grimaced before tucking it back. “It is me, remember? I’m a Luthor. This is where I belong.”

“I know you’re angry,” Supergirl said, and there were tears in her eyes, visible through the camera that suddenly zoomed forward a little, leaving the Super and Luthor the only people in the frame. “I know you’re hurt, but I _never_ meant to hurt you.”

“See,” Lena lifted her gloved hand, “that’s the problem Supergirl. You didn’t mean to. But you did.”

She took Supergirl’s chin in her hand and from the way Supergirl winced, her grip wasn’t gentle. “You didn’t mean to hurt me, just like I’m sure you don’t intend to hurt the world either. But you did,” she added and Supergirl was trying to turn her head, her cheeks scrunched up as she tried to avoid the chilling, calculating gaze of the last Luthor. “And you will hurt them, just as you hurt me. You have to be stopped,” Lena was saying, almost gently.

She stepped back and the camera gaze widened, showing the troops and the only man to speak, the one with the cute hair.

“Lena!” Supergirl pleaded, eyes wide and frightened as Lena lifted a palm and green glowed in its centre.

“Any last words?” The man next to Lena asked, clearly loving every moment of having the Super at his mercy.

“I’m sorry!” Supergirl said, eyes on Lena. “I never wanted to hurt you, okay? I lied to you to keep you safe!”

The man snorted. “Keep her safe?”

He leant forward, voice dropping but still loud enough for the microphone to pick up. “Lena Luthor receives credible death threats once a week. People try to kill her at least once a month. Your lying didn’t protect her at all.”

He straightened from his snarl and looked almost polite as he asked her if she had any further words.

“You’re right.”

There was silence on the broadcast.

“What?” The man asked, tilting his head for clarification.

“You’re right,” Supergirl sighed, head hanging, perhaps in shame, but it might have been because of the Kryptonite draining her strength and poisoning her. “I didn’t lie to her to keep her safe, or, at least, that wasn’t the only reason.”

Clearly this confession had diverted from the script, for the leader looked stumped and Lena Luthor just looked confused.

“Did you know you saved me?” Supergirl asked and when she lifted her head to look at Lena it was obvious who she was referring to. “I was going to quit my civilian life when I met you. I was going to be Supergirl full time and leave the weak, clumsy, ordinary person behind. And then you came along.”

Supergirl’s head bowed again, and it was clearly a strain to keep it up at all. Her whole body hung limp in her chains, blood slowly snaking its way down her leg.

“I was suspicious of you at first, you know? Lex Luthor’s little sister,” Supergirl let out a little chuckle, more of a wheeze and her eyes were closed. “But you proved to me, within those first five seconds, that you were nothing like the world thought you were. You were kind and sweet and helpful and you wanted to save the world. I saw myself in you.”

Supergirl took a moment to gather her words, voice decreasing in strength. “You hurdled every obstacle in your way with your head held high and you kept fighting, even when the world was against you.”

Supergirl lifted her head again, but it lolled on her neck until her chin hit her chest.

“You made me feel special and strong, and like I mattered, like plain ordinary me could be a hero, could make a difference, could help people. Your criticism was never unfounded, and you were always on my side, even when I was wrong.”

The duo on camera were paralysed by Supergirl’s words; the Luthor with narrowed eyes and the other man with visible surprise.

“I didn’t treat you right with the Kryptonite,” Supergirl tried to move in her cuffs, and her body rose for a moment before falling against her shackles weakly. “I should never have treated you the way I did, but I was scared. I know its no excuse, but it’s the truth. I never thought you’d hurt me with it, not really, but I was afraid that you could, that you can make it.”

Supergirl swallowed and wet her lips.

“Do you know when I first saw you? The real you?”

There was silence for a moment until cute-hair nudged Lena.

“No,” she deadpanned.

A slight smile appeared on Supergirl’s lips.

“You were on the plane after Edge poisoned those children, remember? You told me to let you go.”

Supergirl was crying now, openly, and she sniffed a little and let out a shaky laugh. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let you go. You were already so important to me, and there you were, ready to sacrifice yourself to protect the city. With the Daxamites you were on that ship and I…couldn’t just… and then with Reign,” Supergirl trailed off, letting out a pained groan. “You, um, you…” she shook her head and when she spoke again it was haltingly, slurred.

“You’re always ready to help. As squishy and as soft as you are. You had no training and you never asked for any of it, but you were right there, right in the middle of a war. And you were mad at me, about the Kryptonite and how I treated you, but you listened. You always listen. You never judge. And you are always ready to help in any way possible. That is who you are. I wanted you to know that that is who you are; someone who is always ready to help. You’re so strong, stronger than me, and your unfailingly kind even when the world doesn’t deserve it. I am so proud and honoured to know you. You’re my hero.”

Supergirl paused for breath now, breathing deeply and grimacing.

“I only ever wanted to keep you safe. The world has hurt you enough when you have done absolutely nothing to deserve it, and I never wanted to add to that. It had nothing to do with trust. I trust you with my life but I was selfish and I wanted to keep you to myself because you thought I was special without Supergirl. No one ever chooses me, but you did. You chose me over Supergirl.”

The man with cute hair ducked his head towards Lena and muttered something to soft for the camera to hear.

“I know you’re hurt and angry right now, and I’m so sorry for being the reason, but I forgive you. You’re my best friend. I love you.”

There was silence for a long moment that seemed to stretch into forever.

“Untie her,” Lena Luthor said, voice clear and cold.

There were murmurs of disbelief and Lena’s voice hardened into pure command. “Now.”

Cute hair was frowning at Lena, but she was clearly in charge because he walked forward and reached up to unlock the chains above Supergirl.

“I want her on her knees when I kill her.”

The man turned to grin at Lena, cruelly pleased at how this very public murder was going.

Supergirl grunted as she fell into a heap on the ground and cute-hair ducked in to say something to her, his mouth vicious at the heroes ear and she cringed as her head was jerked back painfully.

She was on her knees, blood soaking into her uniform and her arms were limp at her side. With her head hanging forward and with her body slumped, she was the picture of defeat.

Lena Luthor strode up to her and her body got between the camera and Supergirl as she said something to the hero, too soft for anyone to hear.

Then she punched her, hard. Supergirl went reeling with a cry and a cruel, satisfied smirk curled Lena’s lips as she took a few steps back and lifted her hand once more.

Two of the black armoured sentinels came forward and hauled Supergirl upright, dragging her until she was prone on her knees before Lena.

“You’re where you belong, Supergirl,” Lena said calmly and the green light in her palm blinked to life. “And when your dead, I’m going to kill everyone you care about.”

Supergirl’s swaying halted a moment and then the most surprising thing happened-she started to chuckle.

Lena shot her companion a startled look as Supergirl’s voice lifted, a delighted, almost hysterical laugh bursting from the exhausted and beaten woman.

“You aren’t Lena,” Supergirl said, lifting her eyes and there was defiance in them finally, the gaze of a hero. “I believe in Lena Luthor,” her voice was firm, fierce and proud. “You may have her suit, you may have her face, but you are _not_ Lena Luthor. You aren’t my best friend.”

Lena’s features closed down, rage entering her eyes and with a sneer she made a wrist movement.

The green light at her palm began to grow in size and Supergirl had her head held proudly, defiantly as the Kryptonite charged.

“You might kill me, but she’s gonna save the world.”

The green glow grew dangerous in Lena’s gauntlet and an almost peaceful smile crossed Supergirl’s expression as she closed her eyes and waited for death.

Abruptly there was a crash and something fell from the ceiling. Debris crashed around Supergirl, Lena, and the man, and the beam of sickly green burst from the gauntlet, just as Lena was kicked across the room.

Supergirl went down with a cry and the newcomer launched themselves at her, surrounding her in black.

“Open fire!”

The order was faint on the camera but the troops obeyed it, and the familiar burst of gunfire followed, with flashes of fire at gun muzzles.

The person kept hunched protectively over Supergirl, before lifting an arm over their shoulder. There was a bang, some shouts, and then the rate of gunfire lessened. A man at the edge of the circle fell.

Several times more, in a storm of bullets, the person protecting Supergirl lifted their arm and fired something, and each time they did, a soldier fell.

It took a few moments for the figure in black to rise from Supergirl, and when they did, Supergirl was in a black suit, prone on the ground, but encased in something.

The person stood and let the bullets bounce off of them, and their visage was clear for the first time.

In a hail of bullets a figure in black stood with folded arms, almost daring the bullets to come. It was less of the proud Super pose, and more of an indifferent intimidation.

It was also immediately cleared that Supergirl’s rescuer was a woman, or wanted to be thought of as a woman.

She was hooded, a cowl covering the visible part of her face, and she had a cloak on, or not a cloak, but a short-sleeved over-robe that fell down to the floor. It looked like a cape, or even a robe, but it had gaps for the arms and was held in place at the shoulder.

She was wearing black boots with buckles on them and tight black pants, highlighting womanly curves. What gave her away as a woman, though, was the jacket, which wouldn’t have looked out of place a few hundred years ago. It was black with silver patterns, buttoned down the torso with a flaring skirt at the hips that followed the lines of her body and cut across it just above the knee. It looked like it belonged in a gothic Victorian ball, and probably on a man if it weren’t so pretty and delicate looking. But it was taking bullet fire, so it couldn’t have been that delicate.

There was additional fabric at her wrists for arm guards, and when her gloved hand came up again, the shooting soldiers ducked and rolled.

A blast of energy emerged from her hand and she and she reached behind her and pulled out a gun, but it wasn’t like one you’d find in a arms store. She started to fire, and every shot found their mark. The solders dropped, one by one, until the only person standing was Lena Luthor, who had hidden in her Luthor suit.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lena demanded and the new hero tucked her gun away and pulled something else from behind her back, a little baton which abruptly extended into a staff.

“I should kill you,” the woman rumbled, and her voice was distorted by a filter. “But I think I’ll beat you instead.”

The woman whipped her staff around her until it was behind her body and lifted her other hand in a come-hither gesture, waggling two fingers in challenge.

Lena lifted her palms and fired a green beam.

The hero thrust forward with her staff, and a wave of energy burst from its tip, meeting the Kryptonite head on, and she followed in behind it.

Lena barely had time to block the blow heading for her face, and what followed was a ferocious battle of strength. It soon became clear that Lena Luthor was proficient in martial arts, but so was the new hero, though she was favouring the use of her staff over physical strength. As the two fought Supergirl remained prone on the ground, covered head to toe in dark metal.

With a blast of power the duo were thrown off screen, though sounds of their fight continued. Some of the goons were recovering and they could be seen scrambling away as jets of green flew in from off the camera.

The fighting paused a moment, the hissing of energy before a bang and then a helmetless Lena Luthor was thrown in front of the screen, crashing to the ground a few meters from Supergirl.

The new hero stalked after her, leaping into the air, above the camera and vanishing for a good half dozen seconds, before her form came plummeting back to the ground, staff aimed down and robes lashing the air above her like black wings.

Lena was lucky enough to roll away from the staff, which now had a very sharp looking point to it, and the staff ended up buried several feet into the concrete.

The hero ignored it and spun around for Lena.

“Please,” Lena begged, and she was on her hands and legs, scooting backwards as she glanced up at the hero. “Please don’t hurt me.”

Her begging went unanswered and she was picked up and thrown near the end of the screen again. Clearly her suit, designed to take on one of the Super’s themselves, had taken a beating.

The figure didn’t hold back in their punches, and soon Lena Luthor was groaning and bloody as she was dragged back across the concrete towards Supergirl by her ankle.

She was thrown down and then the hero crouched over her, hand going for the throat.

“I’m not going to kill you today,” the hero growled out, panting a little, “Supergirl wouldn’t want me to. But I am going to expose you to the world.”

Lena’s mumbled pleas were ignored as the hero jerked her hand back, bringing something away in her fist.

The hero crushed whatever it was in her hand and let the pieces fall to the ground.

“Supergirl?” The woman knelt next to the frozen Super and shook her slightly. “Supergirl?”

Supergirl started, jerking slightly away from her rescuer and a black hand came up in a peaceful gesture as the face mask covering Supergirl’s face melted away, leaving her in a full-body suit that looked a bit like a scuba suit.

“It’s okay. I’m a friend.”

Supergirl’s face was pained and a bit afraid but her skin was deathly pale and it was obvious she had been hit with the Kryptonite beam when the hero had come in through the roof.

“Who are you?” She was heard demanding, wary and tired at once as she leant on her elbows, features contorting in pain.

“A friend.”

Supergirl’s features crinkled sceptically and her pain was evident on her face.

“Let me protect you, for once. Have some faith.”

“I don’t-“

Supergirl didn’t have the chance to finish speaking because her body went slack as she fell unconscious.

The woman caught her before she could hit her head and slowly, gently, lifted her into her arms into a bridal carry.

The woman looked down at her face a moment before turning and walking back through the debris she had made when she came through the roof.

In a clear voice she began to list numbers as she stared directly at the camera, and then she crouched, and leapt up out of view of the camera.

It was co-ordinates, the people of National City found out later, when NCPD and people in black swarmed the building, but they never saw the woman or their hero again, though photos of her were the next days headline, along with those of Lena Luthor and Supergirl. The Super Luthor friendship had been broadcast for the world to see, and now they knew more about Lena and Supergirl than either of them had probably intended. After all, a Luthor and a Super? It was big news, but not as big as a new hero in town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 1st day of Halloween :D


	17. Chapter 17

“Lena! Are you all right?” Diana enquired the moment Lena flew up to her balcony and stumbled on the landing.

She had a glass of water on the coffee table next to her and had a bowl of fries balanced on her lap, which she placed on the couch as she rose.

Lena staggered a few steps forward and into the safety of her apartment, Diana immediately at her side.

“Sorry,” she gasped out. “Wanted to get inside.” As Lena spoke the nanobots dematerialised from around her and fled back into the apartment, going to store themselves back in their box forms. She’d lost a lot in the fight with the fake Lena, mostly from the Super-charged punches, but a lot of damage had come from the beams. She was glad she knew how the suits worked and was able to stop the beams before she ran out of nanobots completely. She didn’t really want to have to give up parts of her suit in order to protect herself, let alone the amount of bots necessary to encase Kara in a lead suit that would pump out sunlight. That had taken almost all of her nanobots, that and her clothing, she barely had enough left to create weapons. Thankfully she hadn’t really needed them, she’d only needed her fists.

Her body ached all over, as though she had gone several rounds with her punching bag, only this tine she was the punching bag.

“God,” she gasped out and her heart was still pounding, and Diana had to guide her through to the couch, setting her down and hovering worriedly. “Does it always feel like this?”

Her hand was on her heart, at the thumping of it, and though her body was sore, ached beyond belief as she wasn’t really used to that sort of fighting, her body was ready and primed for action.

“Breathe with me, Dear One,” Diana ordered, placing Lena’s now bare skin onto her chest. “In and out,” she instructed, cupping Lena’s neck with her other hand and locking their eyes.

“Breathe.”

Lena followed Diana’s instructions. “That was… ,” she stopped and grabbed Diana’s forearm. “That was a rush.” She let out a shaky laugh.

“I think you need some sugar,” Diana tapped her fondly on the thigh and rose to go into the kitchen.

Lena slumped back on the couch, letting out her breath with a gush.

Letting her head lol on the couch she turned her gaze around and she caught a blinking light in the corner by the door.

Huh.

Reaching forward she tabbed on the coffee table and brought up the system that helped control the house.

She opened the notification panel and pressed play.

‘_Miss Luthor. The police are coming up._’

Letting out a groan she flopped back on the couch.

“What’s that for?” Diana came back into the room with a bag of m n m’s and a packet of potato chips.

“The police are coming to see me,” Lena sighed and gazed at the ceiling.

“Do you think I should just… tell them I’m not home? I’m kinda not in the mood.”

Diana handed her the sweets, keeping the chips for herself. “You probably shouldn’t,” she offered and ran her eyes over Lena, likely looking for any sign of where Lena had previously been.

There was a thumping at the door and Charli’s voice came a moment later.

“Miss Luthor. The police are here to see you.”

Lena sighed but let Diana pull her to her feet and she ambled over to the door. It was reinforced and sound proofed, so it was only when she got close that she could hear the shouts of the police, as well as Charli’s disinterested tones.

Placing her hand on the biometric scanner opened the door and she leant against it disinterestedly.

“Officers. How can I help?”

Charli was solid before the door, gun resting in her arms even as she faced down a dozen officers, some in blue and others in civilian clothes which indicated a higher rank.

“Miss Luthor. Detective Rizzoli,” one of the woman said. “You’re a hard woman to find.”

“That’s what happens when people try to kill you regularly. You don’t have your address in the phone book. How can I help?”

“We need to ask you some questions.”

“About?” Lena lent against the door frame and crossed her arms, waving Charli down. Her bodyguard shifted to the side and leant her weapon against her leg. She popped an m n m into her mouth.

“About your suit.”

“You mean my brothers suit,” Lena corrected, selecting a new sweet and popping it into her mouth. “And I already have an alibi for when it was stolen.”

She paused a moment. “I also have an alibi for today when the stolen suit engaged Supergirl in the park. I was at a café.”

Rizzoli crossed her arms. “What about earlier when you were seen torturing Supergirl and aiding terrorists?”

Lena frowned at the detective. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. I’ve been here all afternoon. Ask Charli.”

“She was,” her bodyguard chimed in.

“Do you have any proof?”

“Do you?” Lena replied and pushed off the wall. “I arrived here about… one-ish? And I’ve been here ever since. I’m sure you can access the buildings security footage. Now, unless you have a warrant, we’re done.”

“Neshkai veindrel. Eliskinv herflal ivec jar left hel povlski,” she said to Charli and stepped back into the room.

One of the officers placed his foot in the door and Lena looked down at it before letting her ire leak into her voice.

“You keep that foot there, you’ll lose it.”

“Who is it, Dear One?”

Diana appeared over her shoulder and wound her arms around Lena. Her presence was comforting, and Lena leant into the embrace.

“The police were wondering where I was all afternoon. Apparently, I was seen somewhere else.”

“That isn’t possible,” Diana said calmly and already her presence was affecting the people around her. “She was with me all afternoon.”

Lena pressed a little into Diana and then smiled at the police. “If you need anything else you can contact my lawyers.”

She let a false smile cross her face before stepping back into the doorway, guiding Diana back into the apartment. As soon as the door was shut Diana lifted a hand to her ear and pulled the nanobot control away from her head.

Lena gave a little shrug. Even if the police had seen it, or known what it was, they wouldn’t be able to prove that it was anything more than a sophisticated earpiece. Luthor tech was beyond anything else they’d know.

“So,” she said, handing her the earpiece. “I saw it all on t.v. but…” she lifted her chips up. “Want to tell me about it?”

Lena lifted her m n m packet into a cheers. “It was, well,” she let out a little shrug. “I’m not about to go out at night and find people to beat up,” she said sternly, seeing how Diana had smiled pointedly at her.

“But…” Lena shrugged her shoulder a little. “I think… if people needed help, I’d like to think I’d go help.”

“You can do more than be a vigilante, Lena,” Diana said, smiling at her, and then leading the way back into the couch, and clicked the television on. A familiar news station was broadcasting the fight with running commentary, though it was muted.

“Now, tell me everything,” Diana demanded curling up on the couch with her legs under her and Lena was struck with the thought that maybe this was how it should have been when she was a teenager; gossiping with friends over dates and kisses.

“You know I tracked her location after our.. shower,” Lena said, searching for the words a moment before blushing as Diana grinned at her. “I flew out there and burst through the roof.”

A thought hit her and she looked around for her phone. “Damn it. I’m going to have to do another internal audit.” These people need to stop using abandoned L-Corp warehouses for their criminal activity. It was getting frustrating. At least it was her own roof she had broken, she would have used the front door otherwise.

After finding her phone and flicking a quick message to Jess, who replied that she was expected to talk with PR first thing in the morning, she continued, “I beat up the people trying to kill her and then flew her out.”

Lena offered the m n ms to Dianna, who shook her head. “Then I dropped her off at the DEO and came home.”

Diana nodded slowly, “ And they didn’t try to follow you?”

Lena scoffed. “Of course they did, even though I did deliver Supergirl. I lost them easily.”

“Atta girl,” Diana smiled. “But,” she added with a wry smile, “that wasn’t very thorough. Tell me everything. Fully this time.”

Lena let out a sigh and leant forward to tap at the coffee table glass. “How would you like to watch, instead?”

Diana’s eyes narrowed before she nodded in understanding. “You recorded it all.”

“Mh hm,” Lena answered, tapping away at the keyboard and dragging a file across its surface before directing it to the television. “I’ll be adding a HUD to the headset eventually, but I figured I’d best record everything for analyse later. I have monitors on the suit as well, to see what kind of damage it took and why.”

“You are magnificent, aren’t you,” Diana comment and stretched out her legs.

Lena just lifted them and settled back, letting them rest on her thighs. She was pretty sure she was blushing, but that was okay. Diana wouldn’t have said it if she didn’t meant it.

It was wonderful to have someone on her side. She just wished she was brave enough to reach out to Kara. Her life would be complete then, she thought.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

“Charli?” Lena hesitated in the doorway of her apartment and stared at the Saturnian as she rose to her feet quickly, gun at the ready. “What are you doing here? I sent you home last night.”

Her bodyguard towered above her, but suddenly seemed small and diminished.

“I wanted to stay.”

Lena’s eyes narrowed but she stepped aside to let Charli replace the gun in the armoury. She wouldn’t need it out on the streets, and carrying a five foot plasma rifle out in public was probably not a good image for Alien Relations.

“Why didn’t you go home?” Lena enquired as the two walked towards the elevator.

Diana had ducked out earlier, claiming she had some business on the other side of the country, and had politely refused Lena’s offer of her personal jet, saying she enjoyed flying there.

“I don’t have a home,” Charli deadpanned after a long moment and as the elevator doors closed Lena shot her a look.

“You don’t have a home,” she repeated, slightly suspiciously.

Charli let out a sigh as the elevator began to descend, and as Lena was a VIP it would take her straight to the ground floor without stopping for anyone. “Your hallway has four walls and a roof. It has no rodents or rain. I would rather sleep on its floor than where I have been.”

Anger unfurled, low and simmering, in Lena’s belly. “Right. We’re gonna fix that today, then.”

She could sense Charli’s surprise, just like she was sure Charli could sense her anger over it. Charli didn’t say anything further on what she was feeling, just like Lena didn’t. But Lena would be fixing that today, Charli would have a home by the end of it.

She messaged Jess as she walked across the lobby, and caught her face on many of the newspapers of the day, and on the televisions in the building, along with Supergirl’s and the new hero in town.

“I see Cat Grant has already named Supergirl’s rescuer,” Charli commented, likely for something to say to draw Lena’s attention from where it was simmering internally.

“Mh, Valkyrie,” she hummed in thought, sort of flattered at it. Valkyrie’s were warrior women of old, fierce, proud, she’d be honoured to be called one. She certainly wasn’t going to name herself something so bold, if at all. She had no reason to. She wasn’t about to be a hero in National City anyway.

“Trademark pending,” Charli added as she reached over Lena to open the door to the outside. “An honourable race.”

Charli went out first, scanning the area for any threat to Lena and even opened her car door for her.

“That isn’t your task,” Lena commented, lifting a brow from her phone as she settled into the back of her town car, Charli folding her massive body in after her.

“No, but it makes my job easier.”

Lena let her do it. She didn’t really care who opened her door, she’d done it herself for twenty-six years, she could do it still, but if Charli wanted to, who was she to complain?

They were leaving early, earlier than usual, to avoid the traffic but also to get a head-start on the storm that was going to descend on Lena and LCorp.

The police had issued a statement about the person in the LexoSuit not actually being Lena late that night, but it hadn’t done much for her stock. Though it had oddly held out, apparently having Supergirl defend you so passionately on national television swayed a few opinions.

Currently the media and public were on two sides. One side was still firmly anti-Luthor, anti-Lena by extension, and the other was glad that it hadn’t been Lena at the warehouse. And hey, if Supergirl was defending her, then clearly she wasn’t in the wrong here. Still, she would be having a press-conference later, about lunch time, to address her technology being stolen and used to hurt Supergirl. She needed to put the fire out before it became too hard to handle.

Not half an hour later and she was dodging camera’s and questions as she walked up to her building. Charli’s presence kept most of them at a respectable distance, her eight-foot presence and red skin tended to do that, and she was growing ever more pleased with her hire.

Jess met her at the lobby, tablet clutched before her and a coffee in the other hand.

“Miss Luthor. Good morning,” she greeted handing Lena the coffee instantly.

Lena took the coffee with a smile. No matter how hard she tried, her expensive coffee-press could never match the coffee from the coffee stand outside. “Morning. What does my schedule look like for today?”

Jess was immediately all business. “I have placed copies of every major news publication on your desk as well as stock reports and suspected trends. Legal will be in to speak with you after your eight o’clock with PR, and department Heads will be giving me their reports before nine. I will call for a press conference at twelve, with your approval.”

Jess was ever so good and Lena was so thankful the woman decided to work for her, even though Lena was planning on sending her to business school, she could do more than organise Lena’s day and get her coffee.

“Anything else of note?”

The three of them got into an elevator, sharing the space with one or two others who nodded to her, but kept a safe distance from Charli.

“Um,” Jess was hesitant and that got Lena’s attention. Her assistant didn’t hesitate, it was one of her more useful traits, that and her ability to speak her mind.

“Yes?” Lena lifted a brow as they began the climb to Lena’s CEO floor.

“Supergirl’s speech gained a lot of…attention… on the two of you, and what she admitted.”

Lena tensed and gave Jess her full attention. “And?”

Jess swallowed. “Well,” she hedged, clutching her tablet to her chest and Lena frowned.

“Spit it out, Jess,” she demanded, though not unkindly.

“They think you were dating.”

Lena was thankful she didn’t drink while speaking with people, otherwise she was sure her coffee might have ended up on the shiny glass of the elevator.

Jess winced apologetically and it all came out in a rush.

“The media and public have been speculating for months, Miss Luthor,” Jess said, and she was tapping on her tablet and showing Lena news publications wondering why Lena hadn’t been seen around Supergirl, and why the hero herself was looking like a kicked puppy.

“Summarise,” Lena let out a sigh and knew the single coffee wasn’t going to get her through the day.

“The most prevalent theory is that you and Supergirl were dating and that you had a massive fall out, supported by Supergirl’s comments to the… doubleganger last night. Supergirl’s activity increased ten-fold since you two stopped speaking, and it was noticed. She would help people change their lightbulbs or walk their dogs. Heck,” Jess said, waving her tablet around animatedly, “she helped a group of kids with their homework. Fan’s estimated she was spending about four hours sleeping, going to her day job, and then spending the rest of her time… super-ing….”

Jess cleared her throat. “Her flight patterns were analysed and she’s been avoiding L-Corp ever since. That, coupled with her words to you, or not to you-you but to-you know, have a lot of people speculating that you were lovers. “

Jess shrugged, looking little apologetic, but also very curious, “She said she loved you, on national television as she was about to die. She said you were her hero.”

Well, that was gonna be a shit storm wasn’t it.

“PR?”

“PR will be discussing that as well as ways forward for the company and your image.”

Lena huffed and took a sip of her coffee. She needed it.

“Have Legal pressure the NCPD, get a copy of the preliminary reports from the incident. I want an official statement clearing me of any involvement by noon.”

Jess nodded as the elevator reached the top floor. “I’ve already requested it.”

“Thank you,” Lena waited a moment for the doors to open before striding forward.

The L-Corp secretary’s were already at work, serving the company and its people, and Lena wondered if she would have to get another employee. Lately they had needed the help.

This floors security were already present, drinking and eating in a room down the hall, and she saw a sports highlight as she passed by.

Charli could spend time in there if she wanted, but she liked sitting next to the large aquarium near Jess’ desk, so Lena made a mental note to get her a better chair.

“Assets is also going over all properties and subsidiaries, as you requested.”

“Good,” Lena reached her office and began the process of unlocking it for the day. “And what about what I texted you earlier?”

Jess lifted a brow. “Branching out into property?”

Lena shook her head and walked over to place her bag on the stand.

“No,” she removed her jacket and hung it as well. “This is personal. Can you delegate some of your tasks today? I can’t trust anyone else with it.”

Jess nodded slowly, “And who, might I ask, is it for?”

“Charli,” Lena replied clicking over to her desk and turning the monitor on. “And others like her.”

“Aliens.”

Lena lifted her head. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Its just… not all aliens are the same… so they’ll have different needs?”

Lena was quiet a while as her monitor showed the L-Corp logo.

“Would you be willing to go with Charli to talk to some of them? Hear them out and see if they would be willing to work with me? Us?”

Jess nodded, a little shakily, but nodded all the same. “I can be free this afternoon…. Or I can go now?”

From her grimace, it was clear she would have to shuffle some of her tasks around, but she would manage it. Jess was efficient like that.

“Sooner would be best. Can you call Charli?”

Jess ducked her head out the door as Lena opened up the file on her desk. It had the most important reports from the night, as well as comments from various HoD’s on yesterdays business day.

A few moments later and Charli was ducking her head to get through the doors, several feet above Jess.

“Miss Luthor?”

Lena placed her hands before her as Charli and Jess came to stand before her desk.

“I’m going to get you a home,” Lena said without fanfare and with no room for disobedience in her tone. “I’d like to give you all a home, those that need it.”

Charli blinked, black eyes empty as usual, though she could see her reflection in them.

“I’d like you to go with Jess and go to talk with... others like you. Aliens without homes, and see if they’d be willing to live at one of my properties.”

She settled back on her chair, mind running out calculations. “I’d like to accommodate different species’ biological requirements, and they would hardly talk to me,” she added and tilted her head. “What do you say?”

Charli was quiet a long while. “You are nothing like what we are taught to believe.”

Lena frowned. “What?”

“The name Luthor,” Charli rumbled, “is one we are taught to know. New comers learn about your family, your name, are taught to fear it. The Boogey-man. But you are nothing like it. You prove that every day.”

Lena ducked her head. While it didn’t come as a surprise to be considered the monster under the bed to alien refugees, she was glad that, at least Charli, had been able to form an impression of her that wasn’t in line with her prejudice.

“I’m not _that_ good.”

“No. But you are willing to learn, to evolve.”

Lena let her eyes flick over Charli’s, trying to sense anything else from the alien in front of her but came up blank.

“So, will you do it?”

“There is a bar. We can start there.”

Lena let out a relieved breath. “How many do you think would accept? To live in a building owned by me?”

Charli shrugged a massive shoulder. “Hard to say. Some have no where else to go and would jump at the chance for four walls and a roof.”

Lena turned to Jess. “If you can get a base need from most of the population, giving precedence to those who have no home, then we can look at buildings.”

She sent Jess and Charli away and went over her preliminary reports for the day. Her stock was holding surprisingly well, and she and L-Corp were trending on social media (not that that was always a good thing) and she caught a few comments and winced. She was going to have to address her and Supergirl’s relationship at some point, she just wasn’t sure how. Her PR team would help her with that, she was sure.

Shortly before eight she was locking her equipment and moving to get a glass of water. She’d need it for the meeting she was about to have.

There were a few people in her conference room already, a few juniors and she nodded to them as she entered. If it had been an external meeting, one with her board or with investors, she’d show up earlier, but since it was internal she was comfortable arriving a few minutes early.

Before eight all of her team was present and she settled back and let her head of PR, a olive skinned man with a bald head and beard, led the discussion.

“Miss Luthor. We have a few points to discuss,” he said and slid a piece of paper across the table to her, a summary of todays agenda.

“Go ahead, Daniel. I’m afraid I have a full schedule today.”

He nodded sharply.

“Right. The Lexouit. We know it was stolen and we also know that it takes Luthor DNA to use it.”

Lena glanced up from the paper. “When they tried to kill me, I bleed all over the deck. My DNA could have been collected then. Or from mother or even Lex. God knows prison isn’t exactly secure.”

A few of the juniors were making notes and Daniel nodded.

“We are waiting on NCPD to clear you of the theft still, though you do have an alibi for the attack on Supergirl in the park.”

“Yes,” Lena folded her arms across the desk. “I was out for lunch. My bodyguard, Charli, carried me home. She was rather… insistent.”

“NCPD collaborated your story,” Daniel agreed. “And agreed that you never left your building via the hallway at least.”

“There is no other way out. Unless I flew, which,” she smiled amusedly, “I cannot.”

There were a few chuckles in the room before they went back to business.

“The press are already asking about it,” Daniel agreed, “but we are waiting on a statement from NCPD clearing you of the act. There are also reports of an image distorter being used.”

Lena let out a sigh. “I had suspected. Once again, my technology, technology I designed to help people, has been used for ill.”

“We have drafted a statement regarding that also, its here,” he slid another folder across the desk to her. “ The NCPD communications director is set to issue a statement in,” he checked his watch. “ twenty minutes. We’ll see if we need to adjust any media plan then.”

The meeting wore on, the team discussing options for various scenarios. As of yet no one had brought up Supergirl’s comments to the not-Lena in the Lexosuit, but she was wondering who would be so bold as to ask.

In the end it was an intern, who blushed as she asked, but asked anyway.

“Um, Miss Luthor?”

She went red under the attention and from the glances of her colleagues, they knew what she was going to ask.

“Yes?”

“What are, um, what about the rumours of you and Supergirl dating?”

She said it in a rush, so fast that Lena almost didn’t catch it, and promptly looked at her hands.

“Miss Luthor,” Daniel said, shooting his junior a look and Lena held up her hand.

“Catherine,” Lena said, before frowning slightly. “It is Catherine, yes?”

Catherine lifted her head, gave a squeak of affirmation, and quickly looked away, face beet red.

“What is the internet saying? You are our social media assistant, aren’t you?”

Catherine nodded a few times, reminding Lena of one of those bobble-head figurines she’d seen in stores.

“Well um.”

“Speak up,” Lena said firmly, but gently. “I don’t have time for you to mumble. I pay you to do a job. Please do it. Advise me.”

Swallowing audibly, Catherine started to speak.

“There’s debate about it,” she said quickly, looking down at her tablet and swiping on it. “They think you guys are friends, while the other half is pointing out Supergirl’s flight pattern’s, her general… unhappy demeaner, and her lack of interactions with you as proof of a massive fight. When you admitted you had fought, in public, the conspiracy theorists started to speculate. Half of them thought you were planning her murder, and the other half said she kissed you and you rejected her.”

There was a moments pause. “They made fan art. And fanfiction.”

“Fanfiction,” Lena repeated slowly.

“Its, ah,” she adjusted her collar nervously. “Its when people write about-“

“I do know what fanfiction is, Miss West,” Lena interrupted, still reeling at the thought of her and Supergirl and fanfiction. “I sent my brother the top-rated Lex/Superman fics as an incarceration present.”

Catherine let out a strangled squeak.

“None of that is true, of course,” Lena said, eyeing her nails and making a mental note to book in a manicure. Maybe Diana would accompany her?

“Supergirl and I were working together,” Lena confessed slowly. Her PR team had signed their lives away when they decided to work for her, she’d skin them if they used any of this information in any way that Lena didn’t approve of. “We…. Had a difference of opinion and decided to take a step back from working with each other. I’d like to work with her again in the future, but… at the moment there is too much…. Baggage for it to happen any time soon.”

“So you weren’t dating? There was no kiss?”

Lena turned to look at Daniel amusedly. “Nor was there any steamy sex. Though,” she tilted her head in thought. “I’m sure that freeze breath and Super-speed could be put to good use.”

Catherine choked on her own spit, though thankfully was saved by chuckles all around the room.

Laughing softly Lena leant back in her chair.

“We’ll deny those rumours, of course, though the press may ask the reason for your falling out?”

“Classified,” Lena answered calmly. “I’d mention it if I could, though I think a certain Black Ops division would have my head.”

There were nods of understanding all around. Their boss had helped Supergirl defend the world many times, it only made sense that she was working on something classified.

They mentioned Kryptonite, and Lena’s ability to synthesise it, and Lena replied that it had been to stop Reign and had been defensive in nature. Then they talked a bit about the Daxamite Invasion, the plane and the water reservoir, and even her working relationship with Supergirl.

Lena had answers for all of them, though her PR team gave her a bit of advice on how to sound less scripted when replying about it.

Soon she was returning to her office to deal with investors and board members who had seen the news and demanded to know the truth, and what she was going to do to protect their money. Life would be much easier without them. In an ideal life she could sack the lot and run LCorp exactly how she wanted, without interference.

At least she had proven herself a capable leader, stock prices had lifted since she had taken the reins, and her employees were far more happier with her at the helm. She had that to her credit at least, even if someone tried to kill her a few times a year.

Eventually she was being guided down to the little park across the street, the one where she’d occasionally sit for some air.

It had the logo’s of the company around the podium, and already there was a massive turn out.

Whether people liked her or not, she made lots of money and her face and brand sold; papers, tech, anything really. She was a hot commodity.

She had her bodyguards around her, more than usual, and she had a brief yearning for Charli before she remember that, hey, she was bulletproof too, and she probably wasn’t going to die today. It was a comforting thought, one less thing to worry about.

She greeted everyone and thanked them for coming, scanning the crowd for a familiar face, and spotting her in the middle of the crowd, hair tied high and with a black and white panelled shirt on.

Tension she hadn’t realised was in her chest eased and she breathed easier, walking through her speech with grace and dignity. Her PR team had helped her write it, and it covered the theft of the Lexosuit, the battle in the park, and then the double-ganger using her face to try to kill Supergirl.

As expected, NCPD had issued a statement clearing Lena of all suspicion, as the police had found someone else in the broken suit and Lena had been seen entering her apartment way before the incident, and hadn’t been seen leaving it. The evidence cleared her. Plus, Lena hoped a certain caped hero had spoken to the police to clear her name too. She did want to see Kara, but so far she hadn’t reached out. Lena was okay with that. She wasn’t sure she deserved it after the way she had treated Kara.

When she opened the panel up for questions, she wasn’t surprised by the first one.

“Miss Luthor! Janice Myers, Fox News. What do you say to the rumours that it was you in the suit, and that you used your technology to alleviate suspicion?”

Lena nearly sighed. “I was out at lunch with a friend when Supergirl engaged the assailant in my brothers’ suit. I was then escorted home by my security, where I remained until this morning.”

Paparazzi were like vultures, Lena thought as the woman didn’t drop the question. Eventually Lena interrupted.

“Are you implying I propelled off my balcony, forty stories down, somehow sped to an empty warehouse in the River district, helped beat up Supergirl, got my ass kicked by a new vigilante, and then made my way back to my apartment, climbing up forty stories, and then answered the police at my door?” She smiled pleasantly as a chuckle ran through the audience. Janice flushed under the attention.

Lena turned her attention to another reporter, and then another, and then another. She answered questions about Kryptonite and even about Wonder Woman and Aquaman, “ No, Mark. I am not sleeping my way through the Justice League.”

Eventually someone else raised their hand.

“Kara Danvers. CatCo Magazine. Both you and Supergirl have mentioned a falling out, do you think reconciliation is possible?”

Kara.

Lena stared at Kara a long while trying to gather her thoughts. While a few other reporters had touched upon the Luthor/Super feud, no one had touched upon it in quite the way Kara had, or with the history the two had, even if only Kara and Lena were aware of it.

“If you spend any amount of time with Supergirl,” Lena began, trying to find the words while also trying to articulate how she felt about her. “It becomes instantly clear that she isn’t from around here. That she isn’t human. Because she is the strongest person I have ever met, have ever had the privilege of knowing. She has faced loss on a scale that we cannot even begin to comprehend. And she’s still here.”

Lena paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts as the camera flashes went off, as the eager cameramen focused on her face for what would be a worthy soundbite.

“She gets back up. Every time. Even when, especially when, she doesn’t want to. I have seen her risk her life for strangers, for the fate of everyone on this planet, without blinking an eye. Some have said, my family among them, that she does it for worship, for idolisation.”

She glanced around at the reporters before her, knowing they were hanging on her every word.

“But that isn’t it. She does it because she _can_. Because she looked at the world around her and thought ‘I can help.’ I have seen her broken and bleeding, fighting for her life while the rest of the world carry’s on unaware. I’ve seen her rescue enemies, even. Because that is what she does.”

Lena looked at Kara now, ignoring everyone else. “She isn’t always right, no one can be, but she never stops trying, she never stops believing, and that, more than anything is what makes her Supergirl. Her belief in people, even when they don’t believe in themselves, is what sets her aside from everyone else on earth. Its what makes her not human, because no human, faced with the pain and loss that she has, could still face the morning, wanting to spread love and joy and hope, to the world.”

Lena looked down a moment, trying to find more words. “While Supergirl and I have our differences, I am proud and honoured to consider her a friend. She has been on my side when no one else was, when the rest of the world had already made up their minds about me. And while she did hurt me, I have come to realise that it wasn’t on purpose, but I…” she trailed off and sighed, gripping the podium.

“I did hurt her on purpose, I was trying to, trying to punish her for hurting me, and I can’t take that back. I can only hope that she hears my apology.”

She let out a shaky huff. “But, to answer your question Miss Danvers, yes. I would be more than willing to build a partnership with her in the future. We both want the same thing. We want to save the world, to protect everyone in it. The difference between us is that she encourages other people to do the same, she makes you want to be the best version of yourself, her very presence makes you ask yourself, if this is who you want to be, she inspires you to be your own hero.”

Kara was quiet and Lena didn’t want to meet her eyes, and the rest of the reporters were silent as well, waiting for Lena to move the questions along.

“Do you know what the ‘S’ on Supergirl’s chest means?” Lena asked after a long moment, tilting her head slightly.

“S… for Super?” Kara asked, brow furrowed, but repeating what people the world over thought.

“No,” Lena shook her head, trying to gauge whether Kara would be okay with what she was about to share. “It’s a symbol of the House of El. Its also their motto; El Mayarah. It means stronger together. Humans will hear that and think it means working together, helping each other out, and while it does mean that, it also means something else. In terms of… society, it acknowledges and exalts the idea that no one can do it alone, can do anything alone, that we are all…connected. We are part of each other. Asking for help, being able to offer help, were part of what bound their society together. Serving each other, for each other, is what their society was built on. El Mayarah, working together, stronger together, for a brighter future for us all.”

Lena wet her lips, feeling she was rambling a little bit. “She is a hero to us all,” she finished, trying to get back to her original point, and not the babbling she was doing, “and I consider her a friend.”

Clearing her throat lightly, and finally tearing her gaze away from Kara’s, she looked around.

“Any further question’s?”

“Do you deny that you were gal-pals?”

Lena’s sigh was audible. “Janice,” she said, leaning forward on the podium and fixing the woman with her most deadly glare. “It is two-thousand and nineteen, surely we’re beyond such heteronormative terminology?”

A collective snigger ran through the crowd.

“Now, if I were in a relationship with a woman, I’d expect you to call it what it was, lovers, girl-friends, that sort of thing. You’re an adult in the media, surely you can call something what it is?” She lifted a brow imperiously. “But no, we are not, nor were we, lovers. As I mentioned earlier, we had a disagreement over work, classified, and decided to take some time apart.”

“Next question.”

A few other reporters had questions, and she had to explain that she was flattered that Supergirl had said those things about her to her would-be murderer and thankful that Supergirl was saved, but was worried at the presence of another vigilante in National City. She was also flattered to think she was Supergirl’s best friend and didn’t have much to comment on that.

She left the press conference there and strode off she stage and back towards LCorp. Her bodyguards surrounded her and so she didn’t notice anyone was following her until a collective gasp went through the crowd.

“I liked your speech.”

Lena tensed but didn’t let any of it show on her features as she glanced up at Kara.

She was hovering impressively in the air above Lena, cape billowing slightly behind her.

To Lena’s eye, she looked tired, but alive and Lena was thrilled to see it, she was glad that her actions had been in time.

“I’m glad to see you’re all right.”

Kara plopped down next to her and she turned to face her.

“I am, thank you. Did, um, you wanna talk now?”

“Well,” Lena smiled and flicked her gaze up at the building. “You know there is an entrance just for you.”

Kara beamed at her, hope shining in her eyes and gave a little nod.

Then she was up and away. Lena watched her go, heart twirling as it always did at the impressive display of power.

She strode quickly away from the park, crossing the street and then up into the safety of her building.

Soon her security was letting her go to her office, peeling off to go watch television or work weights, and she was hesitating in her own doorway at seeing the Super on her balcony.

Kara was leaning out over the railing, staring out at the city and Lena took a moment to centre herself and just looked at her.

Part of her was apprehensive as to how this conversation was going to go, for both their sakes, but the other half just wanted her friend back so desperately.

Taking a breath, she drew her courage and strode across her floor to the balcony and opened it.

The air was cool, a slight breeze on the air considering they were up so high. It was toying with Kara’s cape playfully, and twirling around her hair.

“I missed you,” Kara spoke, and she could have been speaking to the clouds for how soft her confession was, tipped with hesitation as though she were afraid of her response.

Lena smiled at her sadly. “I missed you too.”

She took up a position near Kara on the railing, looking out over the city and she chanced a glance at Kara out the corner of her eyes. It was time to be brave, to be the person Supergirl spoke of in that video when she was about to die.

“I’m sorry for how I treated you,” she whispered, voicing a truth she’d been reluctant to acknowledge. She had purposely tried to hurt Kara, to make her hurt the way Lena was, and it wasn’t fair. She had cut Kara off completely, she didn’t slip away quietly, she had slammed the door in Kara’s face, and thrown her walls up, thrown them up for all of Kara’s friends. It hadn’t been fair on them either, the secret hadn’t been theirs to tell, and somehow that made it worse.

“It’s okay,” Kara replied instantly, and Lena shook her head.

‘No. It isn’t. I shouldn’t have hurt you like that, and its okay to hate me for it.”

Kara finally turned to face her, blue eyes a little glassy but with no tears falling. “I don’t hate you, Lena. I could never hate you. And I already forgave you, remember?”

She ducked her chin into her shoulder, looking a little pained. “I kinda said so on national television.”

“Yeah,” Lena agreed, scrunching her nose. “You kinda did. Still.”

Kara shook her head. “I knew it would hurt you, and I kept quiet anyway because I didn’t want to hurt you, does that make sense?”

She was looking past Lena now, out at the city behind her and Lena turned to lean against the balcony with her hip.

“I… at first I didn’t tell you because duh, you were a stranger. And then everyone around me was telling me that you were bad news and couldn’t be trusted.”

Lena nodded, so there it was, the truth. It wasn’t much of a surprise, even though it hurt.

“No!” Kara said suddenly, eyes wide and earnest as though she had heard Lena’s heart constrict. “Not like that, I swear!”

She took a partial step forward, lifting a hand out to Lena but halting just out of reach. “I always trusted you, I always knew that you weren’t like your family, but I was scared.”

“Scared of a Luthor knowing your secret?”

“Scared of you knowing it,” Kara corrected firmly and Lena faltered, that wasn’t in the predetermined script she had in her head.

Kara let out a sigh, hand falling to her side and she linked her hands together as she looked down at them.

“You were already my best friend by then, and I didn’t know how to tell you. My entire life, I have kept this secret. When people find out…. They are in danger. Alex was nearly murdered because of it,” she added and her fingers retreated into fists.

Lena started, she hadn’t known that and was instantly concerned.

“I got there in time,” Kara answered her unasked question, “but if it had been a few minutes later….”

Lena straightened, she didn’t need Kara to tell her how bad it would have been, the answer was written on her face.

“I…you… you’d already meant so much to me, that by the time I was ready to tell you I- I got scared,” Kara lifted a shoulder in a helpless shrug, more Kara than Supergirl and Lena felt her heart pang at the sight.

“I knew that you’d be hurt by it, and I didn’t want to hurt you so I didn’t tell you. I tried, I did, I promise!” She lifted her head, eyes earnest and pleading. “I just didn’t know how to, how to tell you and keep you. So… I didn’t….”

“The moment you knew it would hurt me,” Lena said firmly, swallowing back her own hurt at discussing it, “and kept the secret is when you betrayed me, Kara.”

She brought her arms around herself, semblance of a hug she so dearly needed. “When you trusted me enough to tell me, but didn’t tell me because you didn’t want to hurt me, because you didn’t want this,” she pointed between the two of them, indicating the current situation, the months of hurt and absence, “to happen, that is when you hurt me. More than anyone else, in fact.”

Kara glanced away, eyes lowering in defeat.

“And I,” she swallowed the emotion, the pain, threatening to swallow her. “I thought it was because of my last name, because I couldn’t escape that no matter how hard I tried.”

“No!” Kara’s head jerked around. “That isn’t it, Lena!”

Lena held up a hand. “I wasn’t finished.”

Kara settled back, wincing in apology.

“I thought that you knew me better than that,” Lena continued, looking at Kara but seeing memories of the two of them, seeing interviews turn to lunch dates and then invites to game night, but also seeing fights over Kryptonite and Reign. “You learnt things about me that I would never have told you, had I known the truth, and then you pretended like we were fine when we weren’t fine, Kara.”

She let out a shaky breath, the pressure in her chest threatening to overwhelm her.

“You treated me like a Luthor one minute,” Lena said, breathing carefully and forcing the tickle in her throat away. “And the next you were at my side, the best friend. How is that fair?”

Kara had tears in her eyes, a look of absolute heartbreak on her face and Lena ignored how she ached at the thought of it being there, without trying to soothe it, and more so for being the reason. But she rallied herself, she hadn’t been the liar in their friendship. Kara had. Kara had held all the cards, and now she had to deal with the hand she’d been delt.

“It isn’t fair, I know,” Kara said quickly, letting out a strangled sigh. “I…. I was selfish and I wasn’t fair to you, but I… I’ve lost everything once, and I… don’t like change. I _hate_ change.”

She let out a shaky laugh which wasn’t really a laugh at all.

“I wanted to keep you for me, because you thought Kara Danvers was special,” she sniffed and looked up at Lena, eyes watering. “You called me your hero and that…” she trailed off, lifting her shoulders in a shrug. “That was… just…. You meant everything to me. I knew that the longer I held the secret the more it would hurt you, but I was too scared to lose you. It had nothing to do with your name, or anything like that. I was a coward.” She wiped away a tear, “And I’m sorry.”

Lena sighed and looked out over the city again. “You hurt me, Kara, hurt me like only Lex has ever manged to. I…” she hesitated and then glanced back at Kara. She had been honest, even though it left her vulnerable and hurt, the least Lena could do was the same.

“If my brother and mother hadn’t already been out of reach, I don’t know what I would have done… to you,” she admitted quietly, the familiar fear of turning into her family rearing its head. “I was hurt and mad and so sad and I just…. I wanted to set the world on fire.”

“Why didn’t you?” Kara asked after a long moment.

“I lost everything when I lost you,” Lena said, looking at Kara and she winced. “Or I thought I did.”

Lena wet her lips. “Turns out nearly dying makes you question a whole lot of things,” she let her breath out in a gush.

“I realised I wasn’t as alone as I thought. I found my birth mothers family and they…. They’re everything a family should be, I think.”

Kara brightened. “You found your family?! Lena! That’s amazing!”

She shifted forward again, likely to wrap Lena up in a hug like she normally would, but then remembered where she was and how she had gotten there and settled back against the balcony.

“What are they like? Do they treat you okay?” Kara rattled off a hundred questions, playing the part of the concerned and protective friend and Lena let her words wash over her, this was what it had been like, Kara rambling while Lena soaked her presence as though she were her own personal sun.

“They’re great, amazing,” Lena said, smiling helplessly at the thought of Vulko and Arthur and Atlanna.

“But they aren’t you,” she added quietly, sadly.

Kara gave her a little sad, half smile that Lena wanted to wipe away, with potstickers and pizza and ice-cream, all of the things that made her happy. She didn’t deserve it, didn’t deserve anything less than happiness and health and love in her future.

“I..” Kara swallowed and fiddled with the thumb guards at the end of her shirt. “Can we try again? Be friends, I mean,” she added quickly, darting her gaze up nervously before looking at her hands again.

Lena knew that she had already forgiven Kara, but she had yet to forgive herself.

“I hope you can forgive me. I know it wasn’t okay, but I never meant to hurt you,” Kara added and Lena’s walls crumbled. They had been erected in a storm of rage and pain, and only her pride had kept them upright, but what was pride in the face of love?

“I forgave you a long time ago,” Lena admitted taking a careful step forward, lowering her head and gazing up at Kara through her lashes.

Kara’s features slackened, lips parting and eyes widening. “You did?”

“I… was mad, but…. Recent events have helped clear my feelings on it. I needed time to heal. We both did. You hurt me. I hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt-“

“Kara,” Lena interrupted, eyes narrowed and shaking her head slightly.

“Being shut out sucked. I missed you. I lost every game night,” Kara said sourly, crinkle forming. “I need my best partner back.”

“It wont be easy, it wont be like before,” Lena said logically.

Kara’s answer was swift. “I don’t want it to be like before.”

A slight blush was on her cheeks and she lifted her hand up to her head to adjust glasses that weren’t there and instead ran her hand through her hair. It was such a Kara gesture that Lena could fight her smile.

“I… hated lying to you, and now you know everything about me we can be even closer than we were before. If you want?”

“I want,” Lena said, and Kara was beaming at her, sunshine personified in the body of a space puppy.

“Awesome,” Kara breathed and then turned her head out over the city, a serious expression falling over her face. “I have to go, she said apologetically, but there was a light to her eyes as she gazed at Lena. “Can we… get lunch this week?”

“I’ll clear my schedule,” Lena promised and was rewarded with a grin, though still Kara hesitated.

“I’ll, um, I’ve gotta go,” she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder and Lena flicked her glance over the city before looking back at Supergirl.

Kara nodded a little and then turned around and bent her knees in preparation for lift off.

“No,” she muttered and Lena was bemused as she suddenly spun around and then Kara was rushing at her, arms wide and pulling her into a hug.

“I’m sorry, but I missed you so much!” She confessed in a rush, arms tight around Lena and something in Lena settled at the embrace.

Her arms came up instinctively around Kara, and it was a marvel at how used to freely given affection now, between Diana and Kara.

“I love you,” Lena admitted, squeezing Kara tightly and the warmth from the Kryptonian ran through her skin and settled in her heart.

“I love you too,” Kara replied, matching her embrace strength for strength. It was nice hugging Kara again, usually their interactions started and ended with one, so not having that contact for so long had cleaved a hole in Lena’s heart that was now finally being filled.

Distant sirens caught Lena’s attention and she gave Kara one last squeeze. “Up, up and away, Supergirl.”

Kara stepped back, looking a little sheepish but undeniably happy.

“I’ll see you later, Lena!”

With that she jumped up on the railing and fell backwards with a wave. Moments later she was a blur of red and blue, blitzing across the city.

Lena tracked her until she vanished out of sight.

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

“Knock, knock.”

Cat Grant started at her desk and lifted her head to glance at her visitor, the visitor entering from her balcony.

She was in her suit, cloak, mask, Victorian looking clothing, and very cool boots.

“Valkyrie,” she greeted and Lena ran her eyes over the office.

It had been a while since she had returned to CatCo and she wasn’t surprised that Cat Grant had returned her office to its former glory.

It was a week since she had last seen Kara, and she was looking forward to their coffee date, but she had to delay their meeting, claiming she had a prior engagement, though Kara wasn’t to know her meeting was with Cat Grant. Cat herself didn’t know it, though her desire for an interview had been know since she had named the mysterious masked woman who had saved Supergirl.

“Cat,” Lena intoned dryly, stepping further into the office.

Her suit had been upgraded since she had last used it, she had added a few more sensors, ones to track her movements and heart rate, to monitor her own body, while she was using the suit. She didn’t really want to be a hero, or even a vigilante, but she wanted to see what she could make. She told Diana it was purely for the technology, and it mostly was, but who didn’t dream about being a hero and saving people?

She had also taken the liberty of adding a few databases to the suit, and was going to build her own network to run everything, but for the moment most of the system worked purely on physical level. She had to look at instructions, her head-set had little instructions almost like a computer that she could access by using her eye movement, and she could also access a computer inside one of her sleeves. It wasn’t ideal, as she didn’t quite trust the technology Beth had used and was working on her own form of it, but it would do for this interview.

She had plans to add more databases to the suit, turn it into an avatar of sorts for her own super-computer system, but that would take her time.

“Nice of you to drop by,” Cat said, standing and striding over to her, glasses in her hand.

“You have been screaming for an interview all week. I am here to save the ears of your employees,” she commented dryly, turning back to Cat.

“Shall we begin?”

Cat strode back to her desk. “Do you mind if I record this interview?”

Lena didn’t respond.

“What’s your name?” She began immediately and Lena almost rolled her eyes under her mask.

“I’m sorry,” she deadpanned. “I don’t have my ID with me. Ruins the line of my suit.”

Cat almost smiled, she clearly hadn’t expected Lena to answer.

“Valkyrie, then. Where are you from?”

“I was born here,” Lena answered, getting tired of the boring questions. “I live here. I’m not an alien. I am here to help, etc. Get to the good stuff, Cat.”

Cat huffed. “Why did you chose until now to show yourself? What sort of powers do you have? Are you, what do the kids call it, a meta-human?”

“Now, Cat, us girls have to have our secrets, don’t we?”

“Why now? Do you plan to join National City’s heroes? What’s your day job?”

Lena thought for a moment. “National City has a competent police force, and an actual Superhero. It has no need for a masked woman looking for people to beat up. I get enough of that in my day-job.”

“So, you won’t be a regular feature on the news?”

Lena shook her head. “No. I will help when necessary, when I can, but I won’t be looking for trouble. Supergirl takes care of that herself.”

“You came to help Supergirl?”

“Supergirl has risked her life many times to save this city and the planet. I thought it was time someone saved her.”

“Miss Grant!”

The two spun to see Kara standing in the doorway, a folder in her hand.

“You! Valkyrie!”

“Hello Kara Danvers,” Lena said ,voice disguised by the suit.

“You know my name?” Kara gushed, lifting her glasses but Lena knew she was looking her over for her identity and was glad she had interwoven lead into her suit.

“Of course,” Lena said and turned back to Cat. “Did you need anything else?”

“I’ll just go,” Kara jabbed her hand over her shoulder and vanished, and Lena wondered when Supergirl would show up.

“Well, I-“

“I’m a millennial, my favourite colour is blue, I like to read, I work 9-5, I’m a democrat. I like diamonds but lately sapphire’s have caught my eye, I don’t enjoy junk food but I do like the occasional donut. Coffee is my life and I have a beach house in Malibu that I never use. Anything else?”

Cat was a little startled, but Lena walked over to the balcony only for-

“Valkyrie!”

Lena glanced up at Kara, the camera in her suit picking up her face and running it through the database and coming up blank. The DEO clearly had defences on Supergirl’s identity going through facial recognition software.

“Supergirl, good to see you,” Lena said and hovered a little to meet her. Her nanobots could fly, and so could the Lexosuit, so it was easy to program it to let her fly.

“Glad to see you’ve recovered. I was concerned about your condition when I dropped you off at the DEO.”

“I’ll see you around,” she said and fell forward off the balcony, letting gravity send her to earth. As she did, she snapped her nanobots out and they dispersed. Lena Luthor stepped out of her town car beneath Catco.

Her nanobots would run around the city, forming indiscrete boxes until she needed them again.

Charli stepped out behind her, her bodyguard impressive and strong, and Lena strode into the Catco plaza.

She was still laughing to herself over the shock on Kara’s face when Valkyrie fell to the earth and then vanished as she exited the elevator to the journalist floor.

Some people smiled at her and others offered their greetings, she had been their boss after all, and she liked to think she had been a good one.

Kara was still with Cat when she entered her office and she leant against the door.

“Cat,” she smiled when the media mogul noticed her presence and lifted her glasses in a little wave.

“Lena!” Supergirl hovered in the air and gave Lena an awkward wave.

“Supergirl, good to see you,” she smiled and titled her head. “You haven’t seen Kara, have you? I’m supposed to meet her for lunch.”

Kara shook her head. “No but I um, I hear sirens. I’m gonna go,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder and then vanished. Not a few moments later and Kara’s voice was calling out to her.

“Lena!”

Lena shared a glance with Cat, eyes rolling with how obvious she was.

“I’m afraid I have to borrow your reporter,” Lena informed Cat with a sly smile. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Cat rose to her feet and strode over to her chair, smiling knowingly at the two. “You kids go and have fun,” she said suggestively and waved Lena off.

Amused at the dismissal Lena waved at Cat and turned to Kara. “Ready for lunch?”

Kara grinned and nodded, adjusting her glasses with a smile. “Yeah!”

They made their way down to Noonan’s and took their usual booth and sitting across from Kara while she ordered her usual Lena felt that her life was finally complete.

She knew who she was now, had a family now, and had people she knew were on her side no matter what. She had a lover, as of yet undefined but she knew Diana was sticking around, and she had Sam and Ruby. Kara was back in her life, tentatively, and she was finally feeling at peace with the world and herself. Her life was looking up.

It wasn’t going to be easy, but, looking at Kara and where they had been, it was going to be worth it.

El Mayarah. Stronger together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thats all folks. Thank you for the ride and I'll see you on the next one. Most of them will be one-shots for this Anchor-Verse, but some are getting awe bit long and might have to be multi-chapter. I'm considering an OT3some but I've never written one before and will need to do some research. Mwah!


End file.
